


Ignis' Final Stand

by Lady_Kaie



Series: Darkness Over Eos [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Multi, Oral Sex, Other, Sex, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:53:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23867836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Kaie/pseuds/Lady_Kaie
Summary: Ignis and Meryda have attempted to have a relationship during the darkness, and they have taken it slow.  Meryda keeps backing away and Ignis keeps fighting for her.  Finally he pulls a stunt that gets her attention.  Will he finally get through to her that he will not abandon her...He has too much to live for... especially now.
Relationships: Ignis Scientia/Original Female Character(s), other - Relationship
Series: Darkness Over Eos [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1710316
Kudos: 3





	1. Bold Moves

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own anything related to or pertaining to FFXV or Square Enix

(Year 3 of the Darkness)

The memory of what she had done only a few short hours ago was still burning brightly in her mind. That man, who had driven her to distraction in more ways than one, had finally achieved his goal of driving himself so deep beneath her skin that she had been unable to resist him one second longer.

Not that she hadn’t already dipped into the waters of curiosity and allowed too many kisses over the past month. Meryda had known better from their first kiss that it wouldn’t be the last but she thought she would be able to slow things down…

Then tonight happened and she knew that this entire relationship was on the road to no return. He wouldn’t let her go after this.

Did she want him to?

Meryda’s face flushed thinking back to the moment in the bathroom that she had shared with the stoic soldier and how empowered she had felt to touch him. Customary as it was, to bathe a soldier upon his return from the battlegrounds that were a darkened Eos, it was unspoken that it was a task for the wife or lover of said warrior, and Ignis had just returned from a hunt for a rogue daemon within the city limits. It had been toying with the power plant and shutting down generators here and there to allow its kin access to the city and her inhabitants.

This wasn’t something new or that they were unaccustomed to, but what they did have difficulty with was that the daemon was so small and careful that they couldn’t find it. That sent panic among the masses and called Ignis, Gladiolus and Prompto home early to handle the situation. A messenger found the three already a day from home and seriously lacking rest, only to be picked up and thrust into another code red situation that needed immediate attention.

Ignis had come home in one piece, though his wounds were deep in areas and it had frightened the short haired blond woman that she would lose another important person to her. For the entire year she had known Ignis he had done nothing but nit pick her cooking, challenge her every decision, and take up her erotic dreams that left her waking in a sweat, body aching and desperate for connection. What was worse, he knew it.

He knew the effect he had on her, and didn’t mind teasing her about it at every chance he got. The fellow was far too cocky, and that overly strong accent of his only exacerbated her condition towards him. Each time he touched or brushed past her, her body lit up in interest and it took all of her vaunted self control not to follow after for more. It was his cockiness that held her at bay, because she wasn’t interested in being toyed with, she wanted a man…

Did she want a man?

Did she have time for a man?

Did she have enough of her heart left to spare for a man?

A man that would show you passion and desire, instead of duty filled nights to fulfill his contract as your husband?

Not that there hadn’t been love between her husband and herself, but it had not been that which a woman dreams about in the darkness of the night, away from prying eyes where she is truly alone and can indulge such winsome fantasies. The kind she was sure a man like Ignis could deliver upon.

What would the sound of his voice be like against her ear? In the heat of the moment as he moved fluidly within her body, striving only for her satisfaction, though claiming his own through the simple action of being connected to her. How would he feel against her? Would he let her muss his perfectly styled hair so that it was down across his handsomely scarred face? She liked him most that way, a little wild and unkempt, and whenever he was awake, he never allowed for that part of him to stay in the present. Meryda wanted to caress through his gorgeous locks and trail her fingertips against his scars as she kissed the contrasting textures across his cheeks and up to his temple, feeling his breath against her lips as he continued to strive onward for the both of them.

It wasn’t sex that she wanted, she wanted to feel, and come alive beneath the strength of a man who could carry the weight she felt inside when it became crippling. Her mother had always told her not to rely on a man for such nonsense because they were a weak species who didn’t have the capabilities to shoulder a woman’s burden, but Ignis made her wonder if her dear mother had been wrong.

And it was those thoughts that kept her up far past a decent hour when there was so much to do the following morning when the generators came on and repairs to the outer wall needed to be made. It was foolish, to stay up so late hoping for…

“I was wondering how long it would take you to come to me.” The strong lilt of the man who occupied her thoughts came from behinid, shooting a shiver of sweet relief straight up her spine.

She had been hoping he would come, praying that he wouldn’t, and now that he was here, she was absolutely petrified. “Come to you?” Meryda tried to play coy, but they both knew she wasn’t good at that.

Ignis on the other hand didn’t have any patience for this drawn out game any longer. He had officially courted her for a month but they were both very aware that it had been longer than that. They had worked side by side for nearly a year, and she had fought him at every turn. Granted he had not made things easy for either of them with his high handed ways and snarky temper, but the moment Gladio pointed out that he was in way over his head where Meryda was concerned, he had listened after a few weeks of utter denial, and decided that this woman was both the bane and joy of his existence.

After tonight, he was done playing. The way he had acted with the other woman had been petty, but everytime he tried to get past Meryda’s barriers she caught on to what he was doing and closed up tight, hiding away from him emotionally and her physical presence was too much to bear. So when he had returned from the battle and another woman had offered to help patch him up because his household was in disarray and the other men needed similar tending, he accepted. Though everyone in the hall who had come for the quick meeting after the issue was handled knew what the woman had been offering. Gladiolus had told him after his bath that Meryda had been positively furious.

While he couldn’t have hoped to see Meryda’s anger, he had felt it and it had been incredible to absorb. The entire time he had been at the mercy of the other female had been uncomfortable and gnawed at his insides, wondering if he would lose this battle and perhaps more with how he was pushing Meryda’s boundaries. But then, that stubborn curvy creature waltzed in and shoo’d the other girl out just as he was undressing to sink into the bath. Gladio had also informed him that Miva had kicked the woman out of the Orphanage so fast that the woman’s feet didn’t even touch the ground.

Not a word had been spoken during the entire exchange between both women, but he knew it was her. He knew the way the room felt when she was in it, he had memorized the texture of her hands against his skin and only she ever dared to touch or inch close enough to the scars on his face. She particularly had always been fascinated with the small one across the bridge of his nose and would touch it frequently when their banter was playful. In the beginning when they had come close to testing the texture of the one he wore upon his lower lip and what it would feel like against her unblemished mouth, she always withdrew. Now they had tested that sweet sensation and it was perfection. Most women shied away from his scars, though they found him attractive, they weren’t quite sure how to address something so visibly life changing. A lot of women didn’t know what to do with a man who had a disability, though Meryda never treated him as though he had one, well aware that he was capable of doing everything he had once done when he had sight.

So she had bathed him, languidly, slowly, and he had thought she had been tormenting him on purpose until he realized that all of the fleeting touches had been to store up her courage and breech past the barrier of their pretend friendship.

Oh… the sweetness of her touch against his body… there…

He had never been a man who needed carnal pleasures and took his enjoyment from them fairly infrequently as he become of age to do so. He had duties after all that required his attention and a woman would have gotten in the way of all that. Then Meryda came.

Suddenly duty was twisted into something new and his world refocused itself on the keeper of the orphans that resided in Lestallum. Furious with her in the beginning, that didn’t last long as his desire to possess her inside and out consumed his every thought. Ignis considered himself a determined man, one capable of attaining his goals should he only strive to do so, and therefore Meryda no longer became a distraction in his eyes, but a necessity.

For it was she who gave him purpose to continue to fight for Eos when the promise of the return of his King wasn’t enough.

“Yes.” He stated matter of factly, the phantom feel of her fingers wrapping around him still heavy upon his person. She had been so bold and it turned his yearning for her from a slow burn into a full blown inferno. “Let’s not play around with this any further Meryda…” His lips shaped around her name almost lewdly, a heated caress that touched each syllable and made her knees shake. HE could sense her excitement and her fear.

Long strides brought him behind the quiet female pressed to the glass of her large patio doors that were hidden by massive black curtains on either side of her. There was a large enough space only for her to peer through into the dark night. Ignis didn’t touch her yet, just stood with his chest barely against her back. “Meryda… let me have you.”

It was such a blunt statement, one that demanded complete compliance and a release of her tightly held control over not only her body but her inner desires. Her husband had been gone for nearly two years and she had mourned him and the loss of his warmth, but Ignis was not offering anything remotely close to what she once had. Still, she had to pretend to be mad that he had done what he did. “Have me? After you invited another woman into this house?” She hissed, pulling away from the touch of his fingertips against her bare skin.

Ignis had known that he would be in trouble considering the other sisters had both slapped him for his shenanigans and then told him to make it official with their sister. His more refined sensibilities had been offended in relation to his antics, but war was war. Sometimes a person couldn’t fight fair.

“You know I never would have let that continue.”

“No? You were removing the rest of your clothes when I came in.”

“Yes.” He breathed with the utmost calm. “And I was preparing to send her out when you entered the room.” Which was not a lie. Ignis wouldn’t allow anyone to touch him except for Meryda. She was who he wanted and though he may be bold enough to waggle another woman in her face, but to go so far as to accept another’s touch, never. Ignis was not a weak man who bowed to the pressures of his libido and let it run roughshod over his true desires.

Meryda on the other hand, didn’t want to believe Ignis on little bit, but he wasn’t someone who tried to sweet talk someone and hide away behind his bravado. The man was blunt, direct, to the point, and if he said that the woman was going to be removed from his vicinity then it was truth.

“Why must you push this so Ignis?” Meryda didn’t have the effort to fight with him right now and it showed in the use of his first name. Didn’t he know she wasn’t worth the effort?  
“You’ll ruin me.” She murmured weakly after a few moments of silence, terrified of what he was asking, because it wasn’t just a small part of her, it was every part of her.

Ignis ducked his head down lightly, his bangs tickling the bare skin of her shoulders even as he pressed his lips to the skin there and kissed with a reverence only a Goddess could be shown. “Never. I am here to serve you…” Serve, worship… all that she would want.

“Control?”

“Only should you want it. Only to relieve you of the burdens you carry… here.” His hand worked up between them and pressed tightly against her breast in the exact place her heart rested. It’s shaky rhythm picked up in speed at the man’s touch and she was positive it would explode from her chest to rest in his palm.

“Then this would be just tonight?” Her attempt to keep this as a single night would be in vain and she knew it, yet she had to try for her sanity.

Ignis breathed her in, the scent of various spices and sugars from the kitchen melding with the body wash she infused with small flowering plants they grew beneath the heat lamps on the second floor. Unable to stop himself from sampling just a bit more of her, the blind soldier eased his open mouth to the nape of her neck and gently sucked on the flesh there. “You know it would not be.” It would be for good, forever, for as long as they both had life left. It was infinite in length, something no time table would touch save for the inevitability of their deaths, but even there, in the afterlife, he would find her.

Meryda whimpered weakly as she felt Ignis manipulate her body, one hand at her rounded hip and the other still holding tight to the precious beat of life beneath her breast. “Should you be able to see you would not want me…” Another last ditch attempt at salvaging her solitude, but again, she was battling against someone far more skilled in this type of combat than herself.

Ignis smirked against the damp flesh he had been tasting and pulled away only so far as to reach upward toward her ear. He lipped and nipped the little appendange through her short soft locks in preparation for what was to come next. “Wouldn’t I? You think I cannot see you as you are without my eyes?” He taunted, the hand at her hip trailing inward to her rounded belly while the other worked low enough to slip beneath her shirt and then back up into its original position, though this time it held her bare breast in its palm. “This body is beautiful… strong…”

Meryda had never been the beauty of her family, with a slightly pudgier build that only expanded after her pregnancy where mobility was nearly impossible due to being high risk, she had been cute at best. Ignis couldn’t see any of that. He could feel that she was thicker in areas, that she possessed scars from fights and the one that brought her child into the world, but beyond that what could he really see? That her eyes were a bit too large for her face and her mouth was a tad too small? Her round cheeks that always seemed to be a shade of light pink to dark red depending on the temperature in the room?

Or all of the extra weight she had in all of the wrong places and a lack of weight she had in the right places? Ignis was beautiful, strong, capable, and any woman would be fortunate to have him…

She was average at best. A caress of his fingertips to the hardening nub of flesh atop her breast drew a whimper out of her. “Strong perhaps… but beautiful…” She had never been called beautiful in her life except by this man and honestly she hadn’t had the time for it.

It wasn’t a shock to the soldier that he would have to fight past some insecurities, though he knew it was a vain attempt to thwart his advances also. Meryda wasn’t too concerned about her body, it was just the safe thing to hide behind. What she really wanted to guard was her heart. “You fear that I would not desire you should I see you.” A statement because he was done with her denial of him. “I do see you my darling. I see all of you.” He breathed against her ear just as his free hand dipped beneath the band of her sweat pants and slid down the length of her body until he reached her saturated curls. Her thighs clenched on impulse before her hands reached out to brace on the glass in front of them.

In the bath he had reached for her, brought her close to his lips, but never completed the kiss he had so desired to press upon her. The moment for waiting was over. Nuzzling her jaw gently, coaxing her to turn toward him, he smiled against her small little mouth when she did. “Let me have you beautiful Meryda.” He whispered before taking her lips in a tender embrace just as his hand delved into the wet warmth of her womanhood. To have… not just her body but her heart that was fighting him due to the fears strangling her

This touch, this exquisite touch, was nothing like her own. The fingers larger, tapered in length and somehow knowing just how she wanted to be touched when her own caress took time to find the right rhythm. How did he know?

Gasping, Meryda’s lips fell open and Ignis didn’t stand by idly to take advantage, though his advances stayed slow and methodical, taking their time to explore instead of overwhelm. It had been so long since her last encounter with a man and it had been nothing so tender yet so devastatingly intense. The darkness had already come when her husband and herself gathered a band of survivors to press on toward Lestallum and with a toddler it had been difficult. Intimacy was rushed and messy, where time was of the essence and pleasure had to come and go as quickly as possible.

Ignis drove her to her end far quicker than she had been ready for, but her body had been desperate for the fall, and when it claimed Meryda, she let loose a small shout in her stun, pulling away from the blemished pair of lips against hers only to rock forward against the glass. With the cool pane against her forehead as an anchor to reality, the rest of her body wasn’t in agreement to come back from its little trip so soon. She twitched and rocked slightly as the tremors of her passed finish ebbed through her limbs, taking their time to work against the nerves within that were no longer used to such bliss. “Ignis…”

The soldier behind the gorgeous woman smiled against her back, his name from her lips a hard won battle that he had been waiting to win. “No Scientia?” He teased, knowing he could get away with it in her current state. But just to be sure, he distracted her by pressing his body against her round bottom so that she could feel just what she had done to him in turn. “You are gorgeous.” It was a moment like this that he wished he could read the pleasure in her eyes, but he took his cues from her other body language. Such as the way she pressed back against his body or the way her thighs clenched at the hand that was still invading their space.

Meryda shook her head to the first question and whimpered at the statement that followed after. It was in the aftermath that she realized just how damned she really was. Ignis had her… he had all of her. Damnit.

“Slowly… it’s been…” never. “A long time.” Meryda murmured hopefully, needing him to follow a little bit of her slower pace before she could run alongside him.

Ignis didn’t answer right away, instead he removed his hands from their current locations and eased them around Meryda in a warm hug. “Of course darling…” He would continue to allow her pace for the time being, but he knew that it would speed up faster than she would want soon enough. Now that he had his first taste of her both figuratively and literally, he would not allow for her distance anymore.

The two were silent for a long while after their intimate moment and eventually Meryda felt fatigue tug at her body that couldn’t possibly fall to slumber standing. Tonight would not be the night she touched or caressed Ignis’ handsome face, or run her fingers through his unkempt locks, but it would be the night that she could lay in his embrace and give up just a touch of the control she so desperately clung to in life.

“Goodnight Scientia.” She teased him back, knowing he had grown to hate when she called him by his last name because it was just another barrier between them. Though this time it was far more playful and didn’t hold its usual irritation.

Which Ignis noted immediately. “Tomorrow I shall hear my name from your lips again.” And he would… he already had plans.

For now, he curled the worn out female against his own equally exhausted frame and slipped away into the dream realm with her.

***********

A year after meeting Meryda, three years after the world went dark.


	2. Bump in the Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meryda's faith is put to the test as Gladio lashes out for Ignis getting hurt. Ignis gets some encouragement from an unexpected place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own or profit from anything related to Square Enix or Final Fantasy XV.

(Year 3 of the Darkness)

“Clear a path!” Gladiolus’ loud voice cut through the noise the children made in the front room, silencing everyone except for the three women who rushed to the scene. Miva and Maery came from the second floor while Meryda rounded the corner from the kitchen, her face splotched with flour from making homemade noodles for the large batch of chicken noodle soup she had been planning for the evening’s supper.

“What happened?” Her eyes immediately went to the weak soldier in the dark haired man’s arms and felt her heart slam to a halt in her chest. Ignis. He wasn’t moving though his chest labored to breathe.

“He’s stable, but he took a lot of hits.” Gladiolus sidestepped the woman in the kitchen doorway to take his comrade to the kitchen table where he was laid out as gently as possible. A groan escaped the barely conscious man when he came in contact with the hard surface.

“What happened?” Meryda reiterated, striding up to the table as Maery herded the children up the stairs and Miva hurried away to get her med kit. Prompto was behind her, looking worn and ragged as he struggled to find words.

“We got ambushed.” He murmured, wincing when Gladioulus ripped off the bloodied shirt on Ignis’ body. “He got hit with fire.” It hurt the younger man to see his comrade fall prey to the same type of source that stole his sight and he was exhausted from continual hunts, so his tears weren’t easy to hold back.

“It’ll be all right Prompto.” Meryda heard the lilted voice from behind, pained and weak, and for a split second her guilt eased. 

Gathering the younger man into her arms, she whispered reassurances, told him to take hold of his courage and gather necessary items. They had all the means to heal the wounds he had. Though truth be told she was just as shaken up about everything. 

Their last encounter hadn’t gone well…

**

One month after the turning point

“Why must you be so stubborn.” Ignis growled, standing perfectly still as Meryda did enough pacing back and forth for the both of them. If he moved he would lash out and break things.

“I’m not being stubborn. I’m being logical. I should come on the next run because I know the plants i’m looking for.” Some creatures left trails of their magic that certain plants collected and could therefore be gathered to be made into antidotes for various effects. Since the creatures didn’t often get very close to Lestallum it was harder to harvest the plants. Out in the forests though, there was plenty of opportunity.

“I already discussed it with a team and I’m going.”

“Like hell you are.” Ignis thoroughly lost his temper and glided over to Meryda to impose his presence upon her. It was late at night and he knew she was just telling him now because it would be near to impossible to cancel with the team. He had just returned from three weeks away and he had been hoping to come back to her and begin where they left off, not fight.

Meryda took a deep calming breath and glanced up at the seething soldier in front of her. “I’m going. We need the supplies, and I know what to look for.” She had gone on numerous runs before, but lately the daemons were more numerous and the last one she had gone on while Ignis was away, she had been hurt.

Her arm was still bandaged as a result of the lightning burn scar that went from her shoulder down to her wrist. It was a thin line, but it felt like it covered her entire arm with how it burned. She could still feel phantom shocks from time to time. “Ignis.”

“No.” He bit off the word, pushing forward so that Meryda was backed against a counter and he was the barrier that kept her from moving away from it. “No Ignis. Now I’m Scientia.” He ordered, not able to have a fight with her if she softened.

And she knew it. But what he didn’t realize was that it hurt her to see him so worried. She knew what it was like to worry. She had worried over him going out into the field for the past six months, terrified he wouldn’t come back. “Ignis… please. The women and children who have arrived at Jilly’s need it.” Gladiolus had just brought back a batch of survivors in his last outing and had delivered them to the woman he was currently courting. Jilly and the larger warrior were a good match and Meryda knew that soon enough they would be living together inside of Gladio sleeping downstairs with Ignis.

Prompto slept on the third floor with the babies.

Again, her light blue gaze opened and soaked in the features of the man in front of her with sorrow. She didn’t want to upset him, even if it usually was one of her favorite past times when they were cooking or repairing something around the house together, still, that was different. This could be a matter of life and death and she hated when he left hurt or still tired from his previous mission. “Please Ignis.” Meryda wasn’t one to ask, she told someone what was going to happen and they had to accept it, but that would do her no good here.

The leader in him wanted to deny her request outright, but the man who had been waging battle against this stubborn female for the better part of six months was ecstatic that she was actually asking permission. He knew it was a tactic to get her way, but there was sincerity in her tone that promised she did want his blessing to go out the next day with the team and gather the supplies she needed. It would be a few hours walk to the forests and then another few hours work before returning back with enough charge left in their light apparatuses.

Deep down he knew Meryda or one of her sisters was the best choice to send out into the field due to their time working with Lunafreya and having followed her instructions from the Gods about healing, but he just couldn’t let her go out with the danger level where it was. Their hunts took them all over, but when one area was handled, it gave another a chance to grow. The cycle was unending, and right now the area near the forests was teeming with daemons.

“So be it. But I am going with you.” IT wasn’t up for discussion and Meryda knew it by his tone of voice.

Part of her wanted to try, but another part of her told her that she had already won and didn’t need to push. So she nodded her head, Ignis’ fingertips against her jaw so that he felt the motion and as soon as it was over, he was on her.

The kiss he unleashed took her by complete surprise, and while she struggled slightly for dominance, her need for it evaporated as Ignis altered his stance so that he was fully baring down on her and he was in complete control. They had shared a few kisses in their time together, but not one like this. Holding tight to his forearms she teetered slightly when the man withdrew and took her by the hand. “It’s been three weeks. I have missed you. I shall not wait any longer to be with you.” All of his statements were said with such military precision that Meryda felt like she was being ordered out onto the battle field instead of being romanced to bed.

However, hearing that he missed her sent a bolt of color through her cheeks and despite herself she grinned. She had missed him too. “Being a bit bossy aren’t you Scientia…” 

“Perhaps.” Ignis was inside Meryda’s bedroom in seconds and as soon as the door was shut tight, the woman found herself employed against it. Eager hands hoisted Meryda’s legs from the ground and up around the soldier’s trim waist. “But I have found being blunt with you is the only way you will listen. Otherwise you think you can argue.” This time when he kissed her, his lips softened and his entire approach shifted to seduction instead of dominance. “No more Scientia…” Now it was time for Ignis.

“No more.” Meryda murmured in agreement, grunting in displeasure at not being kissed only to be scolded. Whining when he didn’t return to her, but instead worked his hands to the hem of her shirt only to lift it fully from her body. The woman shivered in the cool night air and wrapped her arms around Ignis’ neck, fully expecting his lips to return to hers.

They did not. Instead they deviated course from the gorgeous face suspended above, to the round orbs against her chest. Meryda moaned deep in her throat when Ignis’ hot mouth began to worship the sensitive flesh. At long last, she reached up into that too perfect head of hair and completely destroyed the soldier’s image. 

Ignis grinned at Meryda’s loss of control and carefully peeled her away from the door so that he could take them both to bed. He had plans for her, but not the kind of plans she would want. “Off…” He heard her say, tugging at his shirt in frustration.

Complying with the heady demand, Ignis stood and released his chest to the air and basked in the sensation of her gaze upon him. He felt devoured beneath her hungry gaze. “Relax darling… the best is yet to come.” Her legs were wide to accomodate the position of his own body, but she was tense, already anticipating what was going to happen.

Or what she thought would happen.

Ignis had already made his mind up in that he would not have her fully until she had readily submitted to him and they were on the same level of communication about where this was going. Surely she would backtrack after, but her mind would know the truth and would become his ally in stepping toward the future.

“Are you ready?” He quiered, his hair loose over his scarred eye and making him seem even more imposing with the shadows behind him. This side of him was for Meryda only and though she did not know that yet, he would teach her over time.

Meryda nodded, pondering that she was more than ready when in reality, she hadn’t been fully prepared at all.

**

Ignis crawled the length of his stubborn woman’s body so that he could cradle her close. When she reached for the waist band of his pants he batted her away and pressed a kiss to her brow. “Rest now. You’ll need your strength.” He stated matter of factly as though he hadn’t just driven her to the edge and back numerous times in the past hour. Not only was Meryda exhausted, but she wasn’t entirely sure her body would function in the next few hours.

“But you…”

“I shall wait.” He chided midly, pressing his fingertip to her lips as a halt to her protest. He had what he wanted for now. Meryda’s pleasure had been his, her desire was now his, and soon enough he would have the rest of her. He just had to bide his time for the right moment. HIs body was already used to long periods of abstinence, which in his mind would make the final moment in which they came together all the more perfect. “Now tell me of these plants you are going to fetch.” Both arms were draped across her body, one of her legs rested between his and her head was against his bare chest listening to the sound of his breathing, life was just about perfect.

Or so Meryda thought as she began to absently describe her hunt for the following day. Little did she know that Ignis’ interest was keen for only one reason…

Which she found out the following morning when she wake late in the day to the sounds of children playing and no Ignis in her bed. “SCIENTIA!!!” She shouted for the world to hear, furious when she looked at her beside table only to see that he had not programmed her alarm like he promised he had.

She was going to kill him…

**

Or so she had thought. But now, as he lay on her table a week after he disappeared to go out with her team only to return and depart on an emergency mission, suddenly her anger didn’t seem so warranted.

She was shaken out of her stupor when Gladiolus turned an angry face in her direction and growled. “This is on you.” He jabbed his finger centimeters from her chest, but she felt like it had made a direct hit.

“Gladdy…” Prompto had returned to see his comrade scold Meryda and quickly became angered. 

“Not now kid.” The larger man warned, stepping from the room as Miva hurried in with the salves and herbs they would need to clean the wounds.

In a daze, the eldest sister followed the younger sister’s instructions, while Ignis slipped in and out of consciousness on the table. “Put those in boiling water. Let them steep for two minutes. I have to get this goo off of his chest.” Some of the fire creaetures had a discharge that would stay on the skin to keep it irritated. They had found out that it was a type of acid but it was too slow acting on a human’s skin to really do damage. Unless it was left for hours at a time, the danger wasn’t too dire, though it required a strong hand to remove it before it could harden on the outside.

Meryda did as she was told, coming back to help her sister in the task of removing the goo only when the leaves were steeping. She hadn’t even realized that tears had filled her eyes and were now falling onto the bare chest of the man she was working on. He had four patches several inches long and a few inches wide over his torso. One on his right pectoral, another on his left side rib cage, a garish gash across his abdomen where his belly button was, and then a final closer toward his collar bone. 

It wasn’t until a strong hand reached up to stroke along her flushed cheek that she startled out of her self pity long enough to realize that Ignis was awake. “It’s all right Meryda.” He tried to soothe her, but with Gladiolus’ words ringing through her ears, she couldn’t accept his comfort.

Shaking her head away from his touch, though she wanted it desperately, she continued to work alongside her sister. It took nearly an hour to get Ignis all patched up and moved with Prompto’s help to her bedroom. Meryda fluffed up the pillows and flipped back her comforter so that he could be laid out on the sheets. Before they had lifted him, Prompto had removed the man’s pants and cut off his boxers that were just ripped off, and then a pair of loose sweatpants were put on Ignis’ lean body to give him a modicum of decency. “Lay him in the middle.” Meryda whispered through her tears that had not stopped since she began her task. This way she could work on him from all angles should she need to.

Prompto did as he was told and carefully desposited his weak partner into the plush bedding before standing back to help Meryda situate his limbs. “He’ll be ok Meryda. He’ll need to rest and heal which will take a few months, but he will be fine.” Perhaps the blond needed to hear it as much as the woman beside him, but he did believe in what he was saying. What he also needed was to give Gladiolus a piece of his mind.

The older woman however did not respond to the reassurances and instead covered up the man she had been so angry with for the past week and then left to find a small moment of solitude for herself. Far away from prying eyes, Meryda broke down crying for the first time since she had gotten her daughter back after a harrowing three days of trying to find her in the town. This was her fault.

***

Two weeks later.

It had taken him six months to stop feeling sorry for himself and the fact that he had lost not only his sight but his King and the hopes of a future. Six long months where he ‘tried’ his level best to keep up when all he did was slow his teammates down. They had left him here in Lestallum, though he had not known Meryda at that time, and slowly he had come out of his haze. In the hall where they housed grown men who had no familial ties, he listened to the droning on of simpletons and their dreams of being the ones to slay the daemons of the world and bring back peace.

Fools. The lot of them. Thinking that they had some sort of imaginary power to undo all of this evil with their simple mortal hands. It was then, during his rants and frustrations that he realized he was no better than them. Here he was, a chosen servant to the crown of Lucis, wasting away beneath self pity and loathing because he had lost something precious to him. It reminded him of those days he had to get Noctis moving out of his own dampened sense of self and push through to realize that he was able of forging his own path forward.

What would Noctis have said to him now since the tables were turned?

He would have told him, “Iggy… It’s time to get up. Time to walk tall.”

And so he did.

So he had.

So he would continue to do.

With a groan of restrained agony, Ignis swung his legs to the side of the bed he had been laid up in for the past two weeks and shifted forward to put his weight on the unsure limbs. He had matters to attend to, and he would not let them wait any longer. The first of which was fixing the void that had happened between himself and Meryda caused by Gladiolus’ harsh words. Second matter he would attend to would be to rearrange Gladio’s face!

Growling when his third attempt to stand didn’t work, Ignis dropped back to the bed and released a silent shout of displeasure so as not to alert the others he was attempting to get up. What he did alert however was the small child in the doorway of her mother’s room who had come to check on him.

“Iggy?” Called the timid voice from the doorway, startling the blind man from his frustrations and back to his surroundings.

“Fleur?” Named after the Oracle who had wed his King, Ignis couldn’t help but smile. How he had met Meryda was by finding her daughter, safe if not a little shaken up, stowed away in a deserted convenience store that still had food. She had run off from her group with the prospect of candy in the grungy window and when she came out, her group was gone. 

HIs team had been called late to the search, which had been a travesty considering they would have had the girl home earlier than three days. That had been the first time Meryda had hugged him, and the first time he had felt the warm weight of her against his body knowing that he would never feel the same without it from that point on.

Drawn back to the orphanage he came to call upon the small girl he had found and by her fifth birthday the rest of the household had asked him to move in along with his two comrades. The change in location had done wonders for Prompto who had become a bit of a recluse in Noctis’ absence, but the moment he was around the young ones, the vibrant, goofy personality they all knew him for was brought out of hiding.

They, especially Prompt, had been implemented the children’s course work, as they had school seven days a week though far less regimented than when he was working through his own schooling, each moment was the possibility for a lesson. Prompto’s lessons focused on picture taking and creating glorious, bold, dream worthy ballads that they would recount in great deal during a special evening. To feel the shift in his comrade’s aura while the children, some who had been terribly shy, shout out their tales of fancy, was exceptional. The children were exceptional. 

Those were the little points of light he wanted to fight the darkness for, so that they could have a future he had dreamed of having when he was their age. “Are you ok Iggy? Mama told me to come check on you.” Her small little body made its way to him, those tender hands of hers taking hold of his and putting them to her face.

His long fingers engulfed the tiny features and he smiled as he noticed how much she had changed in a few months. Her face had slimmed, though it was still a bit pudgy which made him happy because it meant she was healthy. Her eyes were large and round, and her little nose made a straight line down her face right to the top of her lips that he knew could open into a smile that would swallow her face. “I’m all right sweet one.” He had become rather attached to the little girl who had in turn taken quite a fancy to him. Her wild curly locks, that had to come from her father’s heritage, were unbound and bountiful against her cheeks, though it was clear her mother had shortened them recently. 

“Mama said I needed to put more medimication on your wombs.” She stated matter of factly, her speech changing slightly with the two front teeth she was missing.

“When did this happen?” Ignis asked in amusement, poking her little mouth to reference the lack of teeth. “Did the tooth fairy come for you?”

The girl nodded rapidly and jumped up on the bed as the larger man laid down. This wasn’t her first time bandaging one of the soldier’s up and it wouldn’t be her last. There were four patches on the man’s torso, held down by first aid tape she would need to remove to spread the salve on. “Iggy?” She knew her mama wouldn’t be happy if she asked this question or had this talk with the man, but she needed to.

The only memories she had of her father were the bed time stories her mother told of the man she resembled. Fleur didn’t need a father, but she did like the idea of one. “YEs my girl.” 

“Do you like my mama? Like… like like?” Her little fingers worked quickly across the wounds so that she wouldn’t hurt the blind man any more than she had to.

Ignis knew that this was a potentially dangerous conversation, however he also heard the hope in the little girls voice. She feared for her mother’s safety both emotionally and physically and even if Meryda refused him one day, he would always ensure that she was around for her child. “Is it all right if I do?” He whispered, keeping his voice calm so as to permit the young girl to do the same.

“Yes. I want you to like her.” Fleur whispered back, hoping that her mother wasn’t around to hear. “Do you like me?”

“I adore you darling girl.” Ignis chuckled softly at the worry she exuded. He jumped slightly when she threw herself across his chest, completely forgetting about his wounds. Muffling the sensation of pain, he smiled through it and put his arms around the little one. 

“Mama likes you too. She’s just scared Iggy. Will you try really hard to make her not scared? Even if she’s stubborn?”

Again, Ignis smiled at the sweet candor of the little one and nodded. “I will put my best effort into making her feel safe. As well as you.” His word was his honor and he would never go back on either.

Fleur picked herself up only enough so that she wasn’t laying on top of the wounded man and sheepishly apologized. Flicking a quick glance at the door, she leaned down to the man’s ear and whispered, “What does stubborn mean?”

Ignis gave a half laugh half groan of pain but eventually calmed enough to answer. “It is when someone thinks they know what is best for them, but they don’t always. Such as when your mother tells you to eat your vegetables because they are good for you, but you think they aren’t because they taste bad.” He teased the little one, poking her nose once she had helped him sit up. 

“Oh. So then I’m stubborn just like mama is?”

“That you are, darling girl. And don’t let anyone ever tell you that it's a bad thing. You’re also strong like your mother. Don’t you ever forget that.” 

“Ok Iggy.” The little one said with such determination that the man could almost feel it blossom to life in the room. 

This time when he attempted to stand, he made it with the help of two determined little hands and used her little strength to step back into the real world after being incapacitated for two long weeks.

*************

More to come! Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


	3. Iggy-nus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignis starts feeling better but he and Meryda still need to work some things out. He is shown just how much he is appreciated and once again is moved by the children of the house and their easy acceptance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own or profit from anything that is or is related to Square Enix or FFXV

(Year 3 of the Darkness)

The fire was burning bright in the hearth on the second floor of the mansion where the inhabitants of the orphanage had gathered to pay homage to the children’s latest tales put together by their photography teacher. It was a day that brought significant pleasure to each member of the household and on some days they even entertained other groups for the glorious talent show.

Tonight there was a familiar face that was missing and even though the children all missed Gladiolus, they were far too excited to share their work with the rest of the household. This time around, Prompto had let them take pictures, and because he had been at the house all week long helping with Ignis, he had been able to teach them how to develop their prints! From the five year olds up to the older teens, everyone had enjoyed the experience. Even the sisters had participated.

“Hey.” A voice called out in the quiet kitchen, though there was plenty of noise to be heard from above, one would be able to hear a pin drop in the immaculate space the two chef’s of the house routinely battled in. Though, this week there had been no battling, Meryda had left any and all cooking to Ignis without so much as batting an eye.

Meryda didn’t turn as her younger sister approached from the kitchen doorway with a few children in tow to gather the snacks. “Are you coming Mery!”

Turning away from the sink, her eyes cloudy with unshed tears, she wiped at her face and nodded. “Of course! I’m going to finish up a few things down here and then I’ll be up.” She promised, which was enough for the excited young ones as they grabbed a handful of bags and tear back up the staircase. For her sister however, it wasn’t even close to enough. “Not now Maer.”

“Yes now.” The middle child decided. As the loudest of the bunch because she had to compensate for her shorter posture, and far more outgoing because her personality was insanely infectious. She was almost a carbon copy of her older sister, except her hair was a light shade of brown instead of dirty blond, but other than that they could have been twins. Meryda had for some reason, their entire lives, put their mother and sisters before herself, which had made her an excellent caretaker to Lunafreya. What she wasn’t so good at was taking care of herself or seeing when she needed to just stop and let someone take care of her for a while.

Meryda sighed and glared her sister down. Ice blue eyes were undeterred by the powder blue glare shot in their direction. “I cannot cause problems between them. I can’t stand it.”

“Gladio started that. Ignis was going to go out on that hunt instead of you no matter what. The only way you would have gone was if you hadn’t told him, and the moment he found out he would’ve been right out after you.” Everyone in the house knew that, even the kids.

Ignis had directly or indirectly influenced what Meryda did in relation to runs or any happenings around town. The only thing he couldn’t control was the fact that Hollister still made routine deliveries to the house because he worked at the fields, which was a large warehouse full of plants and crops for the entire town. They looted what they could from other areas that were long abandoned, but they did have to sustain themselves on something other than canned goods. 

“He got hurt.”

“He’s a grown man! And you are not here to take care of him.” The last bit was said a bit softer, gentler because Meryda had always taken loss personally, and she had especially taken Lunafreya’s death hard. She had left due to her pregnancy and deep down blamed herself for not being there with the Princess when she had to go into hiding. The loss of their home city and a large portion of the population including their mother at the start of the unending darkness was just another cheap shot to her self worth.

The fiasco with her child, which had been a continuous set of errors from the very start of the situation, had hammered home the fact that she wasn’t a good protector. To this day Fleur wasn’t allowed out without her mother, not even with one of the soldiers. So when Gladiolus told her that Ignis’ wounds were her fault, Meryda absorbed the flare of anger and internalized it as truth. For the past three weeks that Ignis had been laid up in her room, she had been banking every single wince of pain, each grunt of frustration, and countless hours of care as something she had caused.

If Gladio had showed up tonight she would have slapped him herself. Thankfully he had been with Jilly, who was not impressed with the situation either and had forced her current lover out to the couch until he made peace with Meryda and Ignis both. “It’s not your fault honey.” Maery tried to reach out but the other woman pulled out of her grip.

“I can’t handle someone else dying…” Tears spilled down her face as she admitted the fear in her mind, and the real fear of why she had kept Ignis at bay for so long. What he did was dangerous and reckless at times and she knew he wouldn’t stop. Not that she would ever ask it of him because he was pushing forward for his King, and that she could respect. Except that a small part of her deep down, wanted, desperately prayed for, the day that she would come first…

Even before his King.

And she felt so painfully guilty for feeling that way about a man she had known for such a short amount of time when she had never harbored such intense feelings for the man she swore to cherish and mothered a child with. 

“He won’t die honey…”

“You DON’T KNOW!” Meryda slammed her fist into the table, making her sister jump at the action. “You don’t know what will happen to him. You don’t know what could have…” It was hard to breathe. The world had begun to spin and before the distraught woman knew what had happened, she was on her hands and knees on the ground.

“Don’t touch me.” She shouted over to her sister who had begun to move toward her, but she didn’t want to be touched or comforted. She just wanted to have a good fit and then cry it off. 

“Gladio was right. It was on me.”

“Gladiolus was full of complete shit.” A different voice broke out through the room, startling both women to the fact that they were indeed, not alone in the house.

Turning, Maery caught sight of Ignis, his hair loose and around his face while dressed in his sweats and long sleeved shirt that he only wore during the evenings. His visor was off and he appeared fragile like this, but everyone in the house knew that there wasn’t much that was fragile about this man.

Meryda heard Ignis come in, but she couldn’t see him because she was currently on the ground on the other side of the island. Her heart was racing a million miles a minute and she had the strong urge to press herself against the cabinets and hold her breath so that he would hopefully not find her. That would be foolish, because he would be able to smell her and sooner or later she would have to breathe. What had he heard?

Maery smirked at the tall drink of water beside her and knew that her sister wasn’t getting out of this situation without having Ignis’ input. She had avoided him like the plague, sending everyone else in the house to tend to him, though making sure everything going to him was absolute perfection to ensure speedy healing. The children had been growing stressed because they felt safe with Meryda and Ignis together, which wasn’t a reason to be with another person, but the sisters knew that the two were a good match. Maery already had an admirer that she was making work for her affections and Miva was still pouting at Ignis’ rejection of her.

The younger sister would get over it soon enough considering she had been enjoying working with Prompto this past week and Maery saw quite a few flirtatious looks flying between the two of them. Well, the poor blond boy was mostly shy and completely unsure, but her sister was already on the prowl for her newest prey.

Yeah, she was going to be just fine.

“Maery. Would you please give your sister and I a moment?” Ignis was a man who always requested, he didn’t demand, but there was a certain tone he used when he did not want to be denied, and right now his tone was not neutral at all. He wanted Maery gone, and gone she would be.

“Sure!” Maery smirked when her sister squeaked in surprise at her willingness to depart without a single argument, and she did just that. Normally she would stay to eavesdrop but that man had the most heightened hearing she had ever witnessed in another human being.

When Ignis was could no longer hear Maery as a single entity but now one that existed amongst the excited crowd above, he skirted around the large counter top and stop just beside Meryda’s prone body at his feet. “Well then, that’s enough of this.” He muttered, bending down to pull the woman to her feet and then lifting her up onto the counter so she couldn’t possibly escape him.

Meryda hadn’t been anticipating Ignis to be so strong, much less capable of lifting her. Still, a shriek of near panic escaped her at the motion because he was still wounded and the last thing she could handle right about now was him in pain. “Hush now.” Ignis chided, halting her protests before they could come out. 

He had been getting the run around for three long weeks from this woman and hearing her fears through her tears had been his breaking point. Ignis hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but he had been hoping to catch a moment to approach the eldest woman of the home so when he had come down in hopes she would be in the kitchen, he had been pleased to have his hunch verified. He had been displeased, however, to know that she was worried about him when he had made his own choices and gotten hurt due to his own recklessness.

Meryda fell silent, her attention wholly taken up by the stunning creature in front of her. He was face level with her and she could see his glassy eye that put other people off, save for the kids because they worshipped the ground Ignis walked on and thought everything about him was cool, but for her, it spoke of his devottion to what he believed in. She used to have that kind of devotion and then she gave it to someone else and her world crumbled in around her.

Without thinking, her trembling fingertips caught the jagged line just above Ignis’ right eye and she had the strongest urge to lean into him and kiss his beautifully imperfect lips. Instead she put her forehead to his and gently cradled his cheeks in both of her palms. “I was so mad at you…”

“I know.” Ignis chuckled wryly. He knew he was going to come home to an ass kicking, especially when he got back with the team and then went back out into the field immediately after without even stopping at the house to tell her where he was going. Perhaps some part of him had avoided her on purpose and that had been wrong. “I should have come back to get my butt kicked.” He murmured softly, his mood turning somber quickly when he felt tears land on his cheeks. “Meryda…” He loathed when she cried and the fact that she was hurting so much made him want to leave the house and kick Gladio’s ass until he couldn’t bear the thought of sitting!

The tickle of soft blond hair against her lashes drew her closer, the gentle caress of the tip of his nose to hers promised that more was coming, and the moment Ignis’ warm breath touched her lips she fell into his embrace and wept. It hadn’t been the moment he had been aiming for, but it had been what she was needing.

And the blind soldier was grateful for it. “You are not the reason anyone died.” He curled his arms around her shoulders in a more dominant position so that she would hopefully feel safe in this moment with him. Soon enough hers eased up behind his back where they held on for dear life.

“They all died… They all… Just… I didn’t know Luna was in trouble. And I couldn’t get to my mother in time… so many of us were lost. And then Fleur…” That had been her biggest nightmare turned reality. All of the countless sleepless nights that happened when they were on the run to get to the safe haven Lestallum promised had been nothing but survival on nerves. The pain and loss she had experienced before and during those months had been pushed down deep, and then the day came that her daughter went missing.

She had been out on a run to get supplies and when she got back her child had been missing for a day and a half. The girl who had taken the kids across town hadn’t been a worker with the orphanage, but had offered to help in her absence. After that day she no longer came around. Meryda had perhaps threatened the woman’s life should her daughter be found dead.

Thankfully for the girl, Fleur had come back to her safe and sound in the man’s arms who currently held her. “And then you… You came back and Gladio was so upset and I just couldn’t react. I was so stuck… and then he said…”

Ignis stifled a growl of rage when Gladiolus was brought up once more, but this moment wasn’t for him to let loose about his frustrations with his comrade. It was for Meryda to decompress. “It’s all right.” Ignis wanted to take all of this pain away but he knew it would take significant time to heal her hurts. He would put the time and effort into doing so now that he could see what her hurts were and what they stemmed from.

The anger he had felt at her disappearance from his side dissolved, and when Meryda quieted down, he put his fingers to her shoulders and carefully eased her back so that she could look at him. When he felt her focus completely on him, her breathing ragged and unsure, he went a final step further and shifted her smaller hands up to his features once more. There was an unspoken fascination she had with touching along his scars which he would never allow any other adult, the children were different, but Meryda understood their purpose and why he carried them. She understood what duty and honor meant and he could feel that in her touch.

“Listen to me Meryda. And listen well.” The wording was curt, but the intensity of his conviction could be felt in the space around them. “Lunafreya’s death could not have been avoided. A mad man took her life and her path was never to be easy. She never would have wanted harm to befall you and that’s what would have happened if you and your sisters stayed in her employ.”

“I would have…” She would have followed her princess into the afterlife, and perhaps part of her felt guilty that she hadn’t when as children they had made those impossible promises of always being there. 

Ignis turned into Meryda’s hand and gently kissed her palm in reassurance. He knew how she felt, because he would have and had done the same thing. But he had never tried to find anything outside of the four of them. 

“It wasn’t wrong for you to leave and get married. Your Princess wanted that happiness for you.” In that he was positive because even with the quick meetings he had engaged in with Lunafreya, it was easy to see that she was a good, kind hearted individual who took her role as Oracle seriously. “What she wouldn’t have wanted would you to blame yourself for the sacrifice she knew she had to make. She is smiling down on you and your little girl right now.” Lunafreya had undoubtedly watched over them both and kept them safe through all of their trials since the sun set on the world.

“You think?” For the first time in three weeks, Meryda felt a sliver of warmth infiltrate all of the doubt and anger. 

Ignis nodded gently, closing his eyes in a foreign gesture that no longer meant anything to a man who could not see. Still, he imagined himself before this woman, channeling everything he felt within and soaking up all that she was projecting into the moment. The sensation of her fingertips against his lips tickled and made him want to draw them into his mouth and nip the pads with his teeth. He wanted to feel the texture of them against his tongue.

“It was just so hard to lose everyone so quickly.” There was a silent understanding between the two individual’s who inhabited the quiet kitchen, in that the losses they had both incured had wounded each of them in profound ways. Ignis had the burden of knowing that when his King returned, he would do so only to sacrifice himself for his planet and his people.

“And it still hurts.” Ignis felt it was important to acknowledge her pain that continued to fester inside of her, because it wasn’t an easy hurt to heal, and even though time helped, loss wasn’t really ever healed. “And that’s ok. And its ok that you were mad at me.” 

Meryda’s sobs started all over again as he reminded her of her previous feelings while he had been out. Ignis kissed her with a purpose, letting the moment be messy and far from passionate as her tears mingled into their embrace. “I am not going to leave this planet. I cannot. I swore to my King that I would serve him and that promise is not done.” She would understand his promise better than anyone.

Lowering his voice and pulling Meryda as close to him as she could get so that he could ensure what he had to say was just between the two of them, he whispered to her. “You have given me more to live and fight for.” 

Her heart fluttered wildly at such a declaration because it meant that her fear of him not wanting her at some point was probably unfounded. “I can’t lose anyone else.” 

Had he not truly understood this woman, Ignis wouldn’t have caught the promise hidden behind her statement. She was willing to try to move forward, but her fear was still very real and scary for her. “I’m an excellent soldier. I’ll make sure you won’t.” 

The woman smiled and the gesture grew when Ignis’ long agile fingers reached to trace her lips so that he could take in her happiness. This was one of the things she enjoyed so much about this man, was that he was not afraid to reach out for her no matter the situation. Even though some days his pension to take charge of a situation by subduing her had almost gotten them both in some trouble, but not once had he ever made her feel manhandled. 

What she also appreciated was his genuine friendship that she had fought against far more than the prospect of an intimate relationship with him. He was just so self assure when she had never felt that way inside. ON the outside, Meryda had portrayed herself as sure and capable to those who would doubt her, but inside, she was lost and afraid ever since the loss of her Princess.

“Come now.” The blind soldier gently settled the woman above him back to her feet now that he was done saying what he had to say. “Let’s go listen to the children.”

The poor blond who had just got done pouring her eyes out all over Ignis’ white shirt no less, wanted to ask if she looked fine, but chuckled as she realized he couldn’t answer that. “You look fine I’m sure.” The stoic man replied smoothly, using quick wipes of his thumbs to clear away the last of her outburst.

“It’s not fair,” She murmured absently, leaning into strong arms for just a little while longer. He had been in her bed for three weeks and she in his to avoid the guilt that had been eating her alive, but now she realized she had missed him. Even their annoying banter or arguments over cooking, which was the vast majority of their relationship. 

“What isn’t?” Ignis inquired, though he thought he had an idea. If she meant it hadn’t been fair to stay away from him for three weeks, then she was absolutely right. Even when he wasn’t courting her they hadn’t gone so long without seeing one another when they were in the same space. In fact, ever since the beginning, they had spent several hours a day fighting, arguing, and annoying the other. 

Meryda leaned into the warm hand at her face, having missed being touched though not allowing for anyone to do it. She had been too worked up, but Ignis didn’t care what mood she was in. He invaded her space and declared himself to be in control of everything happening in and around her. Some days that really pissed her off to no end. Other days it turned her on far past her sanity could rationalize. “You.” She summed up all that she felt inside in that one little word and when he smirked in pride she smacked him lightly on the chest.

Ignis gripped Meryda’s round chin in one hand, sternly, before pushing his body against hers so that she could feel him in all of the locations she wanted to. “You aren’t very fair either.” His voice was low, seductive, and it quickly snuffed out whatever playful air had been present between them. Taking another quick moment, though there was nothing fast about it, Ignis put his lips to Meryda’s and gently coaxed them open so that he could explore her. When she whimpered he nearly lost all of his control.

The only thing that saved him from maintaining his control in not whisking the stubborn, feisty woman away to her room was the sound of footsteps on the stairs. “Hey Iggy!” Prompto called, causing Meryda to jump and push away from the man holding her. Ignis didn’t allow her to get far.

Curling her warm body back against his, Ignis waited for the excited blond to cross the threshold into the kitchen and responded only when he did. “Yes Prompto?”

Seeing what was in front of him in the kitchen, the younger man could only smile and when neither individual was quite aware of what he was doing, he snapped a photo. Ignis was facing the camera while Meryda had relaxed down into his arms. It was a beautiful shot of two people who clearly cared for one another. Prompto couldn’t say if it was love, but it was definitely on its way there.

“Fleur is about to go next and she wanted to make sure you both were there. She’s pretty proud of her photo.” And so was he. She had worked really hard to develop it mostly on her own. Usually he didn’t let the younger ones do a lot in the dark room, but she had been so determined that he didn’t have it in him to say no to her.

Meryda hadn’t realized what Prompto had done, otherwise she would have beaten the poor boy, but Ignis did and he didn’t mind. Perhaps when the photo was developed, he would give it to Meryda as a keep sake. “Let’s go then.” He stated as he set himself and Meryda in motion to head toward the staircase.

The moment they were there everyone cheered and the usual children who had to sit with Iggy, rushed him. Ignis allowed for several of the children to sit as his feet, to his left and one on his lap. His right side was reserved for Meryda and not one little soul complained.

AS they settled, the little bundle of energy in the front, took her place on the small stage that had been specially constructed for these nights, and began her Poem. Meryda almost wept all over again at how proud her daughter looked standing there with her board of not one, but two photos of Ignis.

They were beautiful in and of themselves and put the blind warrior in a whole new light. In one he was laughing with the children at the dinner table looking for all the world like he was having the best moment of his life. The second he was napping, in the upstairs picture window with a stack of books to his side and one in his hand. One of the twins was curled against his side sound asleep as well. Nyxus and Nexus had arrived with Meryda and her sisters and though others had come to ask if they wanted to live away from the orphanage, neither one ever agreed. Meryda had been relieved because she had grown rather attached to both boys. The twin reading with Ignis had been Nex and the only one he would ever sit and read with like this was Ignis. No one said a word about the photo, neither in jest or contentment, but the boy still blushed when he found Meryda’s gaze upon him.

Smiling gently she gave him a reassuring nod and then leaned close to explain the pictures to Ignis quickly before her daughter started speaking. The moment Prompto gave her the cue, she began in a clear, sure voice. 

“My Poem is called Iggynus…”

“Ignis.” Prompto corrected gently, the crowd laughing softly at the girl’s attempt to say Ignis’ first name. None of the children called him Ignis, they all called him Iggy.

Fleur turned her massive blue eyes toward Prompto and tried again. “Ig-gynis.”

“Ig-nis”

“Ig-nis.” Fleur repeated, this time saying the name properly. She blushed but didn’t hide away when the others praised her effort.

Nodding, the girl held up her paper and began to read. “I is for Iggy. Because Iggy is someone important to all of us here.” 

He could feel them, those obnoxious little tremors in this throat that would bring about tears and far too much emotion. Smiling softly, Ignis settled back to listen to the rest of the Poem.

Not a single soul spoke as Fleur continued, though everyone’s complete focus was on her. “G is for good. Because Iggy is a good person who fights hard to keep us safe.”

“N is for Nice. Because Iggy always helps us to learn new things.”

“I is for Impossible. Its impossible to not have Iggy with us now because we all love him so much.” This time the children did cheer and Meryda turned to see a single tear streak down his unblemished cheek.

“And S is for silly because Iggy laughs a lot when he is with us and it makes us happy.” 

Fleur finished her Poem with pride dancing in her bright eyes and smiled so wide her little dimples popped out as all the children and adults stood up to applaud her. This was the first time she had participated in one of the Shows. All the times before she had been afraid. Running to her mother first she hugged the woman and then turned toward the man she had just spoken of.

There were tears on his face but she had a feeling they were because he was happy. When he lifted her onto his lap for a hug, she gently withdrew and wiped away the drops of happiness and put her forhead to his. “Was it good Iggy?”

“It was exquisite my darling girl.” It was more than he had words for. The words had been simple but their meaning was anything but. They had been real feelings, real sentiments that this child and all of her fellow children felt for him. That meant more to him than anything. 

“I’m sorry I messed up your name.”

Ignis chuckled and hugged the girl once more, whispering in her ear, “Only you can call me Iggynus.” 

Fleur smiled broadly and when she was set back down she went back to her mother. “Are you proud of me Mama? I did it!”

Meryda was more than proud. “Oh baby! I’m beyond proud of you. You worked so hard and did a wonderful job with your poem.” It hadn’t been overly complicated, so she knew that everything came from her child and not another influence. “Are you proud?”

Fleur nodded. “Yes. I walked tall like Prompto told me to do.” 

The blond who was helping the next child set up flashed a quick thumbs up at Fleur who reciprocated. This was something their King said to them, as the soldiers often said it to one another and had begun to use it as a boost of confidence with the children.

The rest of the night was filled with laughter and while much lighter in sentiment, the wonderful heaviness of the children’s adoration settled inside Ignis to stay. It was a bit of a burden, but he was glad to have it because he felt the same for them, and while being emotionally attached to people could go sour, it could also blossom into something beautiful and that’s what he wanted for the future.

***

“Mama?”

“Yes baby.” Meryda leaned down to her daughter’s bedside and kissed her forehead gently when the girl rolled to face her. “What is it?”

The little one could barely keep her eyes open, but she had something to say and she was bound and determined to say it. Or at least some of it if sleep didn’t come for her first. “It’s ok if you like Iggy Mama. I like him too.” 

Meryda barely heard the rest of what her daughter had to say, but understood all the same. With her daughter’s blessing and seeing just how important the man was to her child, it was just another reminder that sooner or later she was going to have to give into Ignis and his high handed ways. Granted she didn’t ever think they would stop competing against the other.

At least she hoped not…

Kissing Fleur’s head a last time, she stood and departed down to her room where she spent the first night in a month exactly where she wanted to be.


	4. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignis learns something about Meryda and it is startling...
> 
> They also grow closer on this trip and Meryda decides that she has put them both through enough. It's time to move forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own or profit from anything related to square enix or FFXV

(End of Year 3 of the Darkness)

Relationships weren’t easy when the other individual couldn’t be completely under the other’s control. That was Ignis’ line of thought most days when he considered the woman he had decided to pursue for the long term but when he stood in the home of strangers and heard a phenomenon explained to him that he had only known one person in the entirety of the planet could offer, he knew there was more at stake in all of what was transpiring between Meryda and himself.

“She… can heal?” Like Lunafreya? Dumbstruck, the soldier reached for the chair nearest him and braced himself against the sturdy piece of furniture as the information overloaded his rational mind. 

“Yeah. My boy keeps getting reinfected by the scourge, even though we keep him safe inside, but we can’t keep it away. Not out here.” Not where there were too many demons that prowled their grounds unchecked and wild with the hunger to spread their virus.

“So Meryda comes out.” He was piecing everything together now. Her random bouts of fatigue, the little ones who came in and then were healed of any traces of their wounds. Not always the starscourge either. Just when he thought she couldn’t get anymore spectacular, he was proven wrong.

The mother of the boy they had driven a few hours to check on took hold of his gloved hand and offered a squeeze. Judging by the anxiety rippling off of her, it wasn’t only for her boy, but for Meryda as well. Of course all of this would put her through extreme strain. “Oh no.” The woman ripped away from Ignis about the same time he heard the thud of a body hitting the ground.

Meryda.

Before anyone else could reach her, he was at her side and checking her vitals. The pulse beneath her neck was steady if a little weak. “I’ll need blankets and some food to prepare. Where can I take her to rest?” They clearly would not be leaving tonight. He felt the icy glare from the boy’s father rest on his back, but the man said nothing and Ignis didn’t have time to deal with his temper. Currently Meryda needed him and he needed to see to her so that he wouldn’t lose his own.

“Follow me. We have a cabin out back where she usually stays.” Ignis could feel the heat of a lantern on his face and followed the woman outside to the small home where he would care for Meryda through the night. “I’ll be back with some vegetables and meat you can prepare her for a stew. It’s what I usually make. Full of vitamins.” 

“Thank you.” Ignis was curt but not impolite to the woman helping him, but he could not muster his usual thoughtfulness to deal with the situation at hand. First and foremost his thoughts were on Meryda.

The woman left them to their own devices though eventually returned with the food. Even with something to busy himself, Ignis couldn’t stop the feeling of overwhelming dread clutching at his chest, nor the startling feelings of a deeper form of devotion he had been anticipating this early in his relationship with this woman.

Heavens help the Astrals if they took her, because should they decide to, he would summon them to the world and destroy them all.

**

Meryda woke up in the late evening far from home and long after she had been with the young boy who they had driven a day's distance from the compound to see. Fighting her eyes open in a bid to stay aware of the world around her, she didn’t stand or even attempt to move from the warmth of the double bed someone had put her in. The winds outside were picking up by the sounds of the trees rustling against the roof of the one bedroom cottage that had been offered to her and her companion for the night. The harsh drumming of the rain beyond their cabin threatened to lull her back to the recesses of her dreams, but she had already been out for too long.

“Glad to see you are up.” The voice was quiet if not a little concerned and when Meryda propped herself up on the bed, she saw Ignis sitting in front of the fireplace, stirring a pot of something that smelled heavenly. “I gathered some vegetables, meat and herbs to make a hearty stew. You’ll need to replenish your energy.” 

“Are you mad?” There was something hidden behind the silence that she couldn’t detect in his voice, but could see in his posture. Meryda felt her own anxiety spike as a new bit of information was dancing in the open space between them that she hadn’t shared with many people.

Ignis sighed. Yes, he was angry, but not in the ways Meryda would think. Settling his spoon on a dish towel he had folded and put on the ledge above, the soldier turned and made his way to sit beside the woman in bed. “I am not angry and yet, I find myself terribly frustrated with not only your actions today. I also find that I am immensely proud, and humbled to call someone such as you, my girlfriend.” Testing out the word between the two of them, Meryda was silent for a long while. 

“You humble me.” Meryda murmured back, scooting closer to Ignis so that she could hold his warm hand in her own. Calling her his girlfriend was a bit of a startle but it wasn’t an unpleasant notion. In fact it produced a wonderful sensation of warmth to blossom within.

“Goodness Darling… You’re absolutely frozen.” Ignis was nearly in a panic to feel Meryda far too cold for such a warm room and promptly pushed her back to the covers. “Lay down. I’ll fetch some soup.” His previous frustrations were put on the back burner for the time being as his mind snapped to the task at hand. “I’ll gather some more blankets.”

Meryda reached out and took hold of the strong, nimble fingers trying to escape her and with the last bit of her strength, yanked her boyfriend back to the bed. “Just.... sit with me. I’ll be fine.” 

“Meryda. I do not like the fact that you are as cold as you are. It is disturbing darling, you cannot possibly be fine.” There was nothing natural about the temperature of her body and this stubborn female wasn’t going to convince him otherwise. Though, he didn’t entirely want to get up and leave her either. Now that the two of them were starting to find their groove as a couple, Ignis found himself in quite a predicament. No one had ever accused him of being a good boyfriend, significant other, or whatever term a female had so desired to put on him.

The amount of relationships he held throughout his years were few and far between considering his position as Noctis’ caretaker which came before everything and everyone else. After a few failed attempts at normalcy, Ignis satisfied his various carnal needs with women who were capable of being discreet and wanted him for the same thing he wanted them for. Right now, he knew what he wanted and it was Meryda. He was a man who understood persistence, loyalty and dedication to a cause.

So while his pursuits as a lover on a long term basis to someone had not worked out in his favor, he was going to finely tune his skills in order to navigate this new relationship he was starting to create with the gorgeous woman who had captured his heart. He just had to figure out how.

“Ignis… It’s normal after I do that…” That being what she had hidden from him, and continued to hide from others each and every day. The children never understood what she was capable of, and the few adults who were knowing of her situation kept quiet. Reaching out to curl one arm around the man’s waist, the shift situated her body up against Ignis. With his arm over her shoulder, she sighed in relief to feel his warmth seeping in against her cheek. 

Ignis had lost himself in his thoughts of Meryda, his concern for her, and even more, his desire to stay wrapped up against her. It took him by surprise when she eased up against him and leaned into his arms for warmth and perhaps comfort? “Are… are you cuddling with me?” Ignis’ brow went up in his slight shock at being approached by the normally skittish woman. Though, now that they had been delving into intimacy, she had been initiating kisses.

There was something about being free of the Orphanage, and just having Ignis all to herself that kept Meryda from teasing him. “I am.” She admitted softly, still a little worried about what he thought of her secret. “Ignis… I’m sorry I never told you.”

The blond smiled slightly and shook his head. “Never apologize for that. It was a deeply personal secret for you to have.” There was a small part of himself that was insecure about this relationship and what he could bring to it, so when he did realize the power Meryda held within her, he had felt a stab of jealousy. 

“So you aren’t mad?” Her voice was nearly inaudible, but she knew he heard her. This man was climbing straight past her barriers and right into her heart if she even cared to ask how he felt about everything. 

Ignis wasn’t one to admit when he did feel something as distasteful as jealousy, but for her he would this time and it was mostly because they were alone. “I was perhaps a tad jealous… however I can understand why you would not share something such as this. It is not everyone who would have your best interests at heart.” He was desperately hoping that she realized just how protective he would now be of her.

Blissfully unaware of what her future would mean with Ignis as her protector, Meryda smiled in relief that he wasn’t angry and turned her head up so that she could look upon his gorgeous face. There was no doubt in her mind that right now, in this moment, she wanted him.

Fears, worries, concerns… they didn’t exist here in this little safe haven that kept them safe from the storm brewing outside. “Ignis…” HIs name was a plea upon her lips that he would give in to her… 

Taking a deep breath, the air charged with a soothing sense of romance, the soldier rested his forehead to the woman’s watching him with a look he could only imagine would light his blood on fire. He could feel her desire in the way her smaller hand stroked up and down the side of his hip and he could hear it in the way her breaths deepened in attempt to push down her rising excitement. “I cannot darling. Not with you in such distress…” Her body was frozen, he could feel her through his clothes, and her teeth had begun to chatter ever so slightly even though the fire could be felt from fifteen feet across the room.

A tear slid from her now closed eyes at the rejection. “O-ok…” How was she supposed to respond to that?

Ignis reached his index finger up to her plump cheek to wipe at her tears, but in a split second his hand shot open to cup her jaw the moment she pulled out of his grasp. Without thinking he took possession of her mouth, pouring every ounce of himself into the moment as her withdrawal from him knocked down his earlier restraint. “Please Meryda...This has frightened me.” Something else he would usually never admit out loud, but seeing her pass out for hours with her body at a temperature it shouldn’t have been, he would do nothing to put her well being in jeopardy.

“I…” What? What is it that she had wanted to say? That he didn’t have to be concerned about her well being? The poor man didn’t know a thing about this gift, or curse, she had been given and had dealt with since she was young. Now she was an adult who had dealt with the ups and downs of her condition for years, and her response to a man who was genuinely concerned for her was to just brush it to the side. “I’m sorry Ignis. I forgot that this would be alarming for someone who had never seen it happen before.” She was still out of breath from his kiss.

“Let me check the stew.” HIs own breath was ragged, especially with such a soft body in his arms that very clearly wanted to be close. The moment he had gotten her home, he had removed her clothing due to the rain and wrapped her in a warm blanket before putting even more on top of Meryda once she was in bed. There was nothing under that blanket and it had shifted lower on her body which meant that what pressed against him was not so much the blanket as it was her. Cold or not, he adored this woman’s body and wanted to show his appreciation of it in numerous ways. Kissing his startled girlfriend in reassurance, he stood and went to stir his stew.

Meryda was sensitive to the world around her, more so than usual, so when Ignis stood up to give them space, she could tell that it wasn’t due to not wanting her. No, they had been skirting that topic for a while now, and while Meryda was ready, Ignis had declared they would wait. Now, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t torture her most days by exploring her body and its sensitive locations at length while forbidding her to reciprocate. He drove her to madness on those days.

Slow and methodical or demanding and in charge, both facets of Ignis’ personality were executed with immense focus and control and in the aftermath of the encounter she was a bundle of wrecked nerves unable to function. She had a feeling Ignis liked her like that, but she wanted more, for and with him. Meryda had never thought she would be interested in intimacy again after her husband but everything was so different with the man who had fought long and hard for her. It was time. “Smells good…”

“Yes. The madam of the house had excellent vegetables to share. This should get your energy back up into the safety zone.” There was a fissure of nerves tightening across his back as Meryda kept her gaze on him the entire time he was overlooking their meal. There was a phantom of determined resolve pushing against his own desire to care for this woman to the best of his abilities.

She wanted him, he could feel it and had been waiting for this moment for the past several months. Such desire could not have come at a worse time. Together for the first time and truly alone, he wouldn’t lie and say he hadn’t thought about what he would truly do to this woman when they were at long last free of the household. The Gods knew he had and when his mind wasn’t getting the better of him, he actually let it dream instead of calculate every perfect move. There were parts of Ignis that was worried he wouldn’t be able to navigate a relationship with a competent and equal partner, but he was determined to try. There was something about Meryda that called to that lonely place inside of him that he had filled with duty and honor and made him want to be…

Which was a concept he couldn’t fully grasp. What would it be like to just be with this woman day in and day out, living their lives, going about their duties, and then coming together at night to curl up and go to sleep. He had never been a man to allow such feeble concepts as cuddling or random displays of affection. Yes, they pleased his lover, but they needed to have a purpose. Cooking gave him something to work on and perfect, fighting was a necessary skill, and all of his tactical training was put to use in almost any situation, but a relationship had been nothing but a bother.

Meryda pulled the blankets tighter around her as the room went silent, Ignis’ thoughts rather loud in the calm space, and surprisingly she didn’t feel threatened by his concerns. She had known men like him all her life. The ones who served Queen and country and everything else in their lives came second. Even the wives and families. There were others who could balance the areas of their life that demanded their loyalty so that everyone was happy. Ignis had probably never had to juggle a personal life as his personal and public life were very much enmeshed. In the home, he did everything with a purpose and end goal, even when they were together.

The orphanage gave him a place to belong where he could pour his energy into the children and the others of the household who needed a bit of guidance. Meryda needed very little guidance, but she did desire companionship and not necessarily in a romantic way, just as long as it was an individual who hadn’t known her for forever. She had thought that perhaps Ignis wanted the same things until he attempted for a more intimate relationship, and she had allowed it much to her own surprise. He was rather hard to ignore in all honesty and though she had tried her damndest to put distance between them, it hadn’t been because she didn’t want him in return. She wanted him desperately.

A little too much, and he had chased her the moment he understood her own desire. Meryda doubted she had ever been chased in her life, as her marriage had been set up under Luna’s watchful eye and everything after that was routine for the two houses coming together. Marriage was a natural course of action in life and was expected from someone her age and status. So she had completed the task, produced and heir and had now spent the appropriate amount of time mourning him. There weren’t any real plans for the future, but she did know she didn’t want another relationship or marriage, if she ever allowed that to happen again, to be as mundane as her first. Granted, she had to get over her own fears. Had she really been so foolish as to think a man the complete opposite of Ignis would provide her with what she wanted in a partner? What a foolish young girl she still was at times. 

“Ignis?” Gathering her courage, she decided that today was the day for them to lay out their expectations and see where they could go from here. Because she wasn’t going to lay with a man and not have a few things figured out. This would be a revealing conversation on her end and it scared her in various ways. 

“Yes Meryda?” His back tightened at the sound of her tone in the stillness of the room. He had known sooner or later they would be required to have some sort of discussion as to what they both wanted, and he knew he needed to meet this task head on. The problem was, he knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted Her. Whatever all of that entailed, whatever it meant, it could all be summed up to the simple fact he wanted to possess this woman inside and out. 

He was thinking again. Stifling a small laugh, she motioned for him to come to her despite the fact he couldn’t see. “Come sit Ignis. I think we are finally at that point in this whole thing where we have to talk.” Meryda wasn’t a person who tried to hide things away or just pretend that they would smooth out on their own, at least not when it came to situations around her. If it was her own problems she didn’t mind one bit to ignore them. However, she was a problem solver, always had been, and now that she was without the stresses of the household or even her own fears, it was the best time to get things settled, so that when her fears did send her into a panic, Ignis would be aware of why they were happening.

“I’ve always appreciated that you are so willing to have conversations that may be unpleasant.” If anyone ever said this woman wasn’t brave, he would be the first to step in and correct such an assumption. Wiping his hands off on a second towel, he settled the scrap of cloth onto the chair beside the fire place and stepped over to the bed where Meryda was sitting. “It still needs about ten minutes to thicken up.”

The silence lingered during the time that Meryda struggled to find a starting point for her thoughts and when none came, Ignis took both her hand and the lead. “I have never been a man who put a lot of investment into a relationship. I daresay that the concept of one was rather unappealing.” He sighed, but pushed on despite the fact that this was a rather unbecoming start. “It was natural that they desired my time and attention, but I did not have it to give. My duties to the Crown and the Prince came first. I cannot deny that my duties are still at the forefront of my mind…” How could he put these words together to make her understand when he had a hard time wrapping his own mind around in relation to how he felt? What she made him feel. “And yet, my thoughts are consumed by you. I’m moved by how hard you work, your dedication, and the tenderness you still emote even through the pain of all that you have lost.”

Ignis was an eloquent speaker even when he wasn’t sure of the words to use, such as in this particular instance. The discussion didn’t sound fruitful from how he had started it, and any other woman would have stopped listening before the compliments, but Meryda heard them all. And she heard her own thoughts that were scared to give in to the offers of companionship Ignis was leaning toward. There were numerous questions that her mind wanted answers, and yet she had to accept the notion that these questions should have been asked and answered before she allowed this man in her bed…

And in her heart. Shuddering at the chill that rose due to fatigue, Meryda scooted a bit closer to Ignis, mostly for the warmth he exuded so easily. “Those are very pretty words.”

“I do not flatter needlessly Meryda. I know that I have been unsuccessful in the arena of being a significant other, however I am a man who knows what he wants and when he wants it.” Insulted wasn’t quite how he would describe how he felt, though there was a slight amount mixed into his sentiments. Still, he wanted her to fully grasp this so that she didn’t have to wonder as they moved forward. “I want you. I have for sometime now. I can admit that I do not fully know what all that will entail, as distasteful as that is for me to admit, but you are the first woman who had made me consider that perhaps there is more to life than duty.” 

Ignis’ grip tightened slightly in both his need for reassurance because it was hard to read Meryda in her silence at times, and to alleviate any ill concerns she may have. He knew that she was skittish after the repeated losses that came before and after the darkness and he knew she feared his loss every time he went out into the field. A small part of him wanted to give it up for her, but he knew that they would both never forgive such an action. 

“I know how you felt. And we both know that I have tried to fight it which is why you have distanced yourself from having sex with me.” The scent of the stew was growing heavy and rich in the small cabin, signaling that it was ready, but Meryda didn’t want to stop now that she had started. Thankfully Ignis didn’t move from the bed beside her as she struggled to convey why she was the way she was. “I want you too. In ways I never even wanted my husband…” 

The tremor in her voice caught Ignis off guard and without thinking, as this woman pushed and pulled him at her whim, he curled her shuddering body against his chest. “Does this make you feel guilty?” 

Meryda nodded. “I loved him. I suppose the way anyone loves a person in positions such as ours. I was thought that we were guided together by fate, and loved him as such, but as the marriage soured I realized it was a love of convenience.” That day her heart had broken, not for the realization that they were married due to the fact they were in close proximity and her Princess had a hand in it, but that it never evolved. That when the world turned menacing, he faltered then stumbled and then fell. They never recovered, but she had never tried any harder than he had. 

Ignis had heard bits and pieces of Meryda’s marriage from others and some he had discerned from her own words during their times cooking. From his understanding, the marriage was a typical one for upper class families tied to royalty and while there might not have been love, there was indeed loyalty and everyone knew that could blossom into more. His father had attempted to marry him off a time or two, but he had implored King Regis to discuss the necessity of Ignis’ complete attention at the side of the Prince at least until he was King. It had worked and he was no longer bothered with thoughts of honoring his house. “I am sorry that you did not have the marriage you desired.”

“What more could I have desired? We were happy… until I became ill.” She knew he knew of her troubles during her pregnancy so she didn’t delve deeply into the topic because the tears had rushed her. Pulling out of the warm embrace, Meryda curled the blankets tighter around her naked skin and wiped at the offensive little droplets. “I am not upset or trying to compare what we could have to those times. I’m terrified I will receive word one day that you will be gone…”

Ignis didn’t reach for Meryda, but he scooted closer to her so that she could feel that he was near. She had every right to be fearful of what could happen to him, and some of it would undoubtedly come to pass, but he so very much wanted this woman. “I know I am asking you to take a leap of faith, which is demanding a great deal from you when you have already lost so much. I cannot promise that I will not return hurt or gravely injured…” her breath hitched at such a declaration and this time he reached for her and didn’t let go. Linking his fingers with hers, gentle motions brought her smaller hands up to his lips and there he pressed an infinitely tender kiss. “You have only ever been the one to make me think of a life outside of my King. I cannot say I know how to traverse this path, and I will need guidance, but my determination is strong and my will to return to you no matter the circumstance will not falter.” The two were quiet for a long while, Ignis giving Meryda time to process what he had just said while he planned his next step.

A loud popping sound came from the fire, startling both individuals in the room. “Go check the stew.” Meryda murmured softly, releasing Ignis’ hand so that he could pull the pot off of the heat before it began to burn. The small pause allowed her a moment to gather her thoughts of what had been said. Over the past year as she had gotten to know all three of them men who had moved into her life and home, she had learned that they were exceptional people. Strong willed, determined and kind… so kind and thoughtful to the people of the house. In fact, they had moved in and something seemed to fit with all of them and now they felt like a makeshift family instead of lonely orphans and desperate women. What Meryda had learned of Ignis was exactly what he had expressed tonight. He was not a man made to be decieving. If he had something to say he would say it, even if the information could be hurtful. It had happened on more than one occasion.

The clank of the pot sounded in the room and then the telltale sounds of the ladle gathering stew to pour into wooden bowls, though through it all she kept her eyes diverted to the blanket covering her. This was her moment to decide if she would take a step into the unknown or back away and ruin a potential future at happiness. This unendingly honorable man, had all of that potential and more. 

“I think you will enjoy this.” Ignis settled back onto the bed to settle a bowl in Meryda’s hands, but she did not move to eat. “Meryda…” his tone was worried for numerous reasons but the first was his concern for her. This woman was strong for all of those around her to the point that sometimes she was scraping the last of reserves to protect herself.

When Ignis took the bowls and settled them down upon the carpeted ground, he did not reach for Meryda, she could not accept his comfort, but he did reach out and tip her chin up. Using the tip of his thumb, he trailed the quivering flesh of her bottom lip and then very gently leaned in to kiss her.

The embrace was a tender affair, a mere meeting of lips in the warm firelit room, until it ceased being chaste on the end of the woman being romanced. Unable, and perhaps unwilling, Meryda didn’t want to let this moment go. This would be their turning point stepping into a future and she had to jump in with both feet, though the blond doubted anything could sway her suitor off of his path to pursue her. Reaching to take his face in her hands, she leaned upward so that the blankets pooled around her waist and leaned into Ignis’ arms. 

He did not deny her, how could he when she trembled so? Her body was still cool, but her determination put to rest the worried voice in his mind that told him to stop this now. They were at a crossroads and if he made a false move it would undo everything this night had been given to them for. A gentle lick teased his lips open and then a soft sigh fled him as she took the lead. Her lips pliant, tongue taunting against his own, she drew him out, made the moment bleed through him slowly so that instead of a raging fire of lust burning inside, she delivered a sense of wanting that required a slow, careful approach. His usual determination to set her to screaming was sent to the dark recesses of his mind, as her subtler notes promised a beautiful ballad of sensation instead of a piece that boasted a startling crescendo just before the end.

Still, he could not allow too much before she had eaten. “Meryda…” One arm was around her waist to steady her, the other had wound up into her hair to keep her close while his lips were far too pleased with so much attention that they found it hard to part. Eventually he got a grip on his faculties and gently withdrew from the angel he held. He could still feel her warm breath puffing against the dampness coating his lips and it made him want to kiss her unendingly. “Please...I want all that you want…” He would not be able to stay loyal to his promises of being careful with her body, but he would see to it that it was nourished. “But I cannot feel at ease until you have eaten something to help your condition.”

There wasn’t any room to be disappointed when a man was genuinely concerned for a person’s well being over his own desires. “Ever the gentleman.” Meryda settled back beside Ignis and allowed him to situation the blankets around her shoulders. The sensation of his soft cotton shirt against her bare skin was still very much real and she wanted more. 

“I have never been accused otherwise.” It was a point of pride for him even if he wasn’t always the best at being with someone else, he did not mistreat the female in his life by being crude or rude to her in any situation.

The food was good for what had been available with a solid flavor and plenty of spice that warmed right through Meryda’s exhausted body. This was not her first trip to the young one, but due to his condition each time he fell ill, getting him healthy again took more and more of her energy. If they didn’t move him to Lestallum where they had more equipment and far kinder surroundings, he was going to die within a year. 

“Are you alright?” Ignis set his empty bowl on the ground and turned to face Meryda. Checking her forehead for fever he was pleased to feel that it was cool to the touch. Still, something was upsetting her and he had a feeling he knew what it was. “I will talk to them Meryda.” It was natural that a family didn’t want to abandon their way of life, but the darkness was not going to end soon and their son continued to get worse. The other element that he was not willing to sacrifice was Meryda’s health to see to a boy who needed further treatment when the parents were living in blissful ignorance that something would save them.

The woman put her bowl in Ignis’ hands and nodded, trying not to sob at how hopeless everything felt. “I know I worried you by fainting.”

Ignis didn’t desire to talk about this when they had been working toward something important for them both. So, he pressed his forehead to hers and cupped her face in both of his hands so that he knew he had all of her attention. “You did. But it will be the last time. I will rectify all of the issues that concern you Meryda. I promise. Please do not let yourself think too much on this situation. You are not alone and do not have to deal with this alone anymore.” She took on a lot of problems that were not her own and he adored those pieces of her that strove to take on the world. But even a warrior needed his army, and Ignis was ready to be that army to Meryda. “Tomorrow morning I will fix all of this.”

Somehow, Meryda believed every word the blind soldier said. This was going to be a miracle to pull off, but in the past year of knowing him, she had witnessed many wonders from this man. Tonight she would give all of the stress into his hands and trust in his masterful abiliites to turn a situation in his favor. “Thank you.” 

Ignis smiled, pleased that Meryda wasn’t going to fight him but then he supposed she was far too tired to give this situation further energy. “You should rest…”

“You really think you’re going to get out of tonight?” Meryda scoffed in amusement. Strong, sure hands worked their way up her back to rub and caress her skin. “I don’t want you to think I will compare you to my husband…”

“I was not worried about that.” However, he wasn’t surprised that some men would be concerned about something such as this. In his mind, her marriage was over, and while she would always harbor love for him, it did not impact what they had. Meryda did not mourn him like a widow often would, but he could feel her guilt for having lost him. “I beleve it is time for you to let go of the hurts you both caused one another. You do not need to feel guilty for his death…” 

That was the real reason for her guilt, not what they had lived as a couple after she fell pregnant, but the fact that when he was gone, the pain didn’t extend throughout every part of her like it should have. “I don’t know when I stopped loving him…” Meryda sobbed softly. She had never been able to share something so personal with anyone in her household, even if her sister’s could sense it, the words had been too painful to utter.

Ignis held tight to the shivering woman in reassurance that he was there for her in this moment and tucked her under his chin. “I don’t think that you did. I think your love changed. And so did his. Neither of you were wrong Meryda, you went through hard times and there is nothing wrong when something falls apart. It hurts, perhaps it even makes you ache and wonder if life will ever be filled with color ever again. But it was not your fault. It wasn’t your fault, nor his, nor was it your fault he died. It was his duty to see to your safety and that of his child, and he did. There was love in that action and it was for you.” 

Every word hit home in a world that had been supporting all of the continuous agony for the past few years. It had taken a year in the darkness to reach Lestallum, which was to be their safe haven, but it had not started out that way. The city had been in its own upheaval with so many new survivors and poor management so when these thoughts came to her in the dark of the night, she only had herself to talk to. Meryda had always kept things for herself, but on the days she had wanted someone to listen to her troubles, there hadn’t been the time. Then this creature came along and blew apart all of her defenses and practically demanded to be allowed to care for her. Ignis was not a man who asked for what he wanted, he walked into the room and demanded it. 

“I’m scared… because I never felt for him what I feel for you.” Her words were almost lost against Ignis’ neck, but with his hearing far more enhanced that it had been when his eyes were of use to him, he heard everything as clear as day. “This isn’t going to be a fling is it?” Pulling away to wipe at her face, her breath hitched when Ignis lowered his face to her cheeks and kissed away the moisture with small sweeps of his lips. She had never felt so cherished.

“Certainly not.” He whispered against her, his nose trailing along the planes and dips of her soft face now that he was completely distracted with having her so close to him. He was pleased that they had put some concerns to rest that had been growing, but he knew they were not out of the woods quite yet. Still, they had a solid foundation to move forward. “If you are truly not well…”

“Take off your clothes Ignis. You’ve teased me enough…” He wasn’t the only one who could be demanding. Nuzzling at his face so that his lips came to hers she didn’t rush to kiss him, instead she enjoyed the slightly ragged breath coming from him and soaked in his presence. 

“Perhaps I have.” He smirked before forcing himself to stand so that he could take care of his clothing that were not going to be needed for the rest of the night. 

There was no going back once they began down this path, they both knew it. 

***********

Last chapter will see them getting together! Comments and kudos are always appreciated!


	5. The Fight Is Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignis and Meryda finally come together and the former Advisor to the King realizes that how protective he was over Noctis is nothing compared to how he feels to Meryda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own or profit from anything related to FFXV or Square Enix.

“It is times like this that I wish I could see you.” His smile was softer than usual, perhaps even a bit shy as his long fingers reached for the hem of his glaive’s shirt and eased it up and over his unruly head. He could not see her, but he could definitely feel her, which was Meryda’s main goal tonight. As a lover, she was fairly confident, though something about Ignis made her feel shy and a little unsure. Not because he made her feel unworthy, in fact, it seemed like it was her first time all over again.

There was wonder, curiosity, excitement, and a little fear that came from not knowing a new lover that took over her, and tonight, instead of being scared of it, Meryda was going to let it guide her. “You’re very handsome,” She whispered against his firm abdomen, having scooted to the edge of the bed so that she could touch him in a bid to give him the sensations looking at her would’ve done. There were deep, defined lines that made up his muscular torso, firm pectorals with round nipples that were just the right size. The scars that had been born of his sacrifice were ashy grey in a spider web design that was only noticeable up his sides and down to his hip bones. With her eyes she memorized the little lines that had no specific pattern, as fire burned without rhyme or reason, and with her fingertips she traced them, committing this man’s beauty to memory. 

“Do they bother you?” Her touch was bliss, and it was taking everything to not reach out and push her beneath him in a show of appreciation for her attention. As with most things, Ignis was often in charge of how and what route a sexual encounter took, but Meryda wasn’t going to allow him that tonight. She really was his match. Perhaps he would be able to release his tightly held control and deliver it into her capable hands. 

“Never.” She put her lips to the warm flesh she had been caressing, and this time painted her touch into the canvas of Ignis’ body with her tongue and teeth. Each mark, some deeper than the last, was paid respect to what he was and all that he had sacrificed. “Scars on a warrior are the most honorable show of his devotion. These make up who you are, they tell your story, and it’s a beautiful one.”

He was moved. Touched by her words, though he was no warrior. “I fear I do not deserve the title of warrior. I am a soldier at best.” A warrior was someone who fought for their own values, where as he protected the values of others.

Meryda on the other hand didn’t agree. Moving inward to his belly button, she nipped at the puckered area and then lightly blew on the invisible trail that sloped down into his leather pants. During her explorations, Ignis had pushed one hand into her hair more in an anchored grip than one set out to control, while the other kept hold of her shoulder, both pushing and pulling her when things got far too intense or not intense enough. He was never harsh, always tender, but she could tell he was not as controlled as he usually was, especially after their other moments of intimacy. 

“A soldier fights because he is told to. You fight because you believe it is right. Your loyalty to your King is something in you, not something someone ordered of you.” How could he not see the difference?

Slliding to her feet that were slightly unsteady, Ignis took some of her weight and once she was settled he fell to her. The hand in her hair tightened only enough to keep her balanced and then he fell upon her. Meryda shuddered beneath the heat in Ignis’ touch, her lips sliding open to greet the slick muscle reaching for her own, and with a deep sigh, she eased her hands up into dirty blond strands and held tight. 

“You humble me.” Ignis breathed into her, his breath ragged and desperate for more. Though what surprised him most, was that he wanted to feel more of Meryda against him. The torture she had incited against his nerves had been delicious to absorb, but it left him wanting more from her. A tender palm streaked down the front of his face, resting fully against his damaged eye almost in a protective, reverent gesture before she pulled away and slid his pants down his legs.

When Meryda was done, Ignis was left only in his black boxer briefs. HIs body was a testament to strength and despite the scars some women would see as garish, it was an homage to his beauty as well. For Meryda the marks he carried made him that much more handsome. Taking hold of his hand, she slid onto the bed and felt him follow behind her until they were both huddled underneath the blankets, allowing themselves to touch and caress, but to not go any deeper just yet. 

“What is your fascination with my scars…” Ignis settled against the pillows with Meryda propped against his chest so that they were pressed together, skin to skin. Her temperature was still low but her shivering had stopped. 

“I don’t know. Does it bother you?”

“No.” He shook his head, smiling softly when she began to trail the back of her fingers up and down his scarred cheek. 

“I rather admire them. I know you made a great sacrifice and that is why you carry them. That is why you are more than a soldier.” Her family was revered as Tenebrae’s best, protectors of the Oracle, so she had been raised to understand loyalty and what it meant to sacrifice for your country and people. Meryda leaned into the larger hand that had begun to mimic her own, stroking up and down the plane of her cheek. 

Ignis was never idle as they laid enwrapped in one another, his hands continued to touch and stroke, even the shift of his chest with each breath he took seemed to tantalize her skin in a way that made it feel electrified. The first kiss to his chest was an indication that things were about to change between them, but he didn’t realize it until that sinful mouth of hers was weaving its way down his torso and then all of the sudden, pressed to the front of his boxers to test the focal point of his pleasure with nipping touches.

“Meryda…” His voice was strangled as his surprise filtered through his body. He wasn’t sure he had ever allowed a woman this exploration of him though he had acquainted himself with a woman’s body in such a manner, much to the delight of his current lover. Still, feeling her take charge stilled him from moving her back against him so that he could take over. What more would she do? 

When he didn’t attempt to push her away, Meryda gently eased down the boxers to the tops of Ignis’ thighs but instead of taking him into her mouth, she used the moment to explore him much as she had the rest of his body. First with her fingers dancing up and down the thick piece of flesh jutting straight upward, almost demanding her attention. This part of Ignis that she had never really seen, but had definitely felt, was just as perfect as the rest of him. There were no blemishes, nothing unsavory, just a neat, clean and well kept area.

Ignis’ fingertips reached for the woman taunting him and then quickly diverted to the bedding, where they clenched mercilessly. And then that slick muscle that had tasted his chest earlier appeared to trail lines up and down his erection. She took her time to explore, and he tried his damndest not to plead for more. “Now I know how it feels.” He chuckled through the short breaths he was taking as each time she touched his shaft, he had to start all over again as all of the breath in his lungs was forced out almost violently.

Meryda smirked wickedly and running her hand up Ignis’ chest, resting to the center, she waited until he had calmed enough to inhale deeply and then she took him all the way into her mouth. 

Whatever calm, languid sensation the man had been floating in, turned into stormy seas prepared to capsize him. “Meryda…” The bedding nearly tore beneath his grip and when her devilish fingers trailed to the side, seemingly to comfort his overworked nerves, what he felt next were the tips of her nails lightly tweaking his firm nipple. Ignis made a sound he had never made before.

IT was a deep, grunting whine from the center of his chest that pushed Meryda’s own passion to ignite. Tossing the blankets back and off of her bod so that she could see everything this man was going through, eventually she eased off of his manhood and tested the texture of his muscled thighs and the deliciously curved hip bones. Then she did everything all over again, just as slowly as ever.

Meryda didn’t want him to hurtle toward his finish, she wanted him to live in this moment and enjoy what pleasure could bring when you trusted someone. This was oftentimes what he did to her, and yet, there was a different level of tenderness she showed him. “Relax… you can hold me.” She encouraged, reaching for his hands as her lips slackened and sunk down over engorged flesh weeping for touch.

Ignis’ bangs were glued to his forehead, his body slicked in sweat and each time he thought he knew her pattern she changed directions and kept him in between languid pleasure and heedy desperation. He felt out of control, and it felt incredible. Reaching for Meryda’s body, he curled his hands up into her thick hair, playing with the shorter length at the back of her neck, but not once did he turn controlling. He was not a brute and he would not treat his partner as though she were there for his pleasure only. He never had and he never would.

Being able to hold her made him feel more connected to what was happening and less a spectator driven to the edge of his sanity. He was still being driven to the edge of his sanity, but now he felt like an active participant in his pleasure. There were points in time that she would drift away, kiss and lick at him in areas he hadn’t realized were sensitive and she exploited them all with expert precision. When Meryda went back to the point of interest between his legs, his hands clenched into her hair and pulled her up the length of his body.

“No more…” He pleaded before claiming her mouth for his own. He would not finish without her pleasure coming first. 

“Was it bad?” Meryda’s voice was half teasing, half serious and the fact that she doubted herself in any capacity stopped his heart in his ches.t

“Never.” He was shaken by what she had done to him, and grateful that he had allowed her to have control over their moment. Ignis was relieved to know that not only was this relationship going to be different in how he felt for this woman, but also in her determination to be an active participant instead of letting everything fall to him. “Tell me what you want.” He hummed the words against her cheek, his accent having deepened with the torments she had put him through.

Meryda closed her bright eyes to the sound of Ignis’ deepened voice and allowed the sound of his need to wrap its way around her senses. Her body was tired, but the desire was there, burning beneath her skin just waiting to be unleashed. A determined mouth trailed from the edge of her jaw and lower to her neck where it stayed soft and pliant. He was attempting to keep the same pace she had, and that’s what determined that the fire alive within her would be a slow burn. IT had been a long time since she had been all consumed instead of rushed for the finish.

“You Ignis. Just love me slowly… touch me… I just need you.” There were no other words to convey what she wanted of him or from him, though he seemed to know exactly what she needed of him.

Letting go of reality, Ignis pressed his lips first to Meryda’s cheek, then over to her ear as he rolled above and between her thighs. His boxers had been tossed from his long legs in a haste to not have an ounce of his skin unable to feel hers “All that you want Meryda… it’s yours.” All that she could demand, desire, or dream of, he would deliver upon it all.

Meryda didn’t respond, she just held tight to the strong shoulders above her and tried to return all of the affections he heaped upon her. Tender touches, some a shade rough depending on location, and open mouthed touches that made her body tingle straight down to the wet warmth that had awakened while she took advantage of her boyfriend’s willingness to let her touch him in return for everything he had ever done for her.

Jagged breaths pushed her chest against his so that her breasts scraped deliciously against his harder muscles. Biting her lip, she fought down a moan at the sensation, but lost the battle when she arched up to get firmer contact with the sturdier frame above that had withdrawn to move down the length of her. For an instant Meryda thought he was going to seek out her lower lips and seek justice for the wreck she had made him into and then she felt damp lips brush a taut nipple.

Meryda screamed softly at the surprise his embrace envoked, but when Ignis lavished the little bud with the flat of his tongue, she slumped back to the bed, all tension in her body completely lost. “Ig… Ignis…” He took his time, mouthing at the puckered flesh, and then he would kiss it, then a tender lick, and at long last he would draw against her sensitive orbs and place sucking kisses against her. All over the plump orb, he moved and tasted but he always came back to the aching tip atop her breast. 

“You have beautiful breasts Meryda… so full, soft… responsive.” He cupped the one that had been abandoned to be second in this endeavor, and lavished his sympathies for the time it had to wait for his attention. These touches were less explorative, as he strove to devour her and wring out every sound she could possibly make from her gorgeous lips. It was when a particularly loud cry and her fingers clenched in his hair, that he eased his free hand up her thigh, dipped his fingertips inside of her warmth to test her readiness, and once satisfied he eased within her tight body.

Yes! Was what her mind shouted, but all that she could muster to show her appreciation of Ignis’ body joined to hers, was a whimper of bliss and wrapping her long limbs completely around the man against and inside of her. It had been so long…

For Ignis it had been much longer though he could not remember a time he had ever felt something so perfect. If he believed in fate or simple notions such as that, he would say this woman had been made just for him. His head slouched forward onto Meryda’s shoulder as his body struggled for breath, “You feel exquisite.” Never one to be vocal, something inside of him prompted the man to express what this woman was doing to him.

“You too.” It was the best Meryda could do with all of the emotions rioting through her mind. They had shared, cried (she had cried), touched, held one another, and now they were connected in one of the most intimate ways a man and woman could be. Meryda didn’t need anything more from this night and if they laid together, him deep inside of her, she would be happy.

Ignis held just as tightly to Meryda as she held him and only when she put her lips to his shoulder did he begin to move. It was a simple roll of his hips, feeling the inside of her and letting her feel him, but he never parted from her embrace. He couldn’t bring himself to withdraw from her even if it would send them spiraling into pleasure, today he needed to take the time and ensure that she knew he was here in this moment with her. 

So Ignis touched, kissed, and caressed with his lips, fingertips and the hard member deep inside of her wet channel, not once losing his tempo as he let his mind indulge in each and every incredible uproar of pleasure that rippled through his oversensitized body. He drank her in, immersed himself in her soft sounds of delight and let it all sink deeper inside of him where he could hide it away to unearth on lonely nights away from her warm, giving curves. The nights he had spent dreaming what she would feel like pressed into him were no where near to the real thing, but then he had always known those dreams would pale in comparison.

“Ignis… I…. It’s…” Her body was pushing for the end, her energy all but burned up in a rapid spell that left her limbs shaking beneath the rapture coursing through her. But he didn’t pick up his pace, he kept moving with slow methodical twists. “Ignis…” It was a prayer to this gorgeous man to find their end because she had never chased pleasure like this and she was almost afraid to find that incredible finish looming in front of her.

Ignis had been tuned into Meryda’s body and felt her legs lose tension over time and then her hold against him softened, signaling she was faltering beneath the strain she had gone through earlier. Gently, he withdrew from her heat, groaning at the loss, though he kissed her smoothly when she whimpered and then he shifted behind the woman wrapped in his arms.

“Stay with me…” Ignis’ breath cascaded down the slope of her neck, causing her to turn her head and seek out a kiss. Gently, he eased her thigh up and over his hip and then slid back inside of her welcoming sheath with a fluid shift of his lower body. He was deeper than before, touching areas inside of her that he hadn’t been able to reach earlier and it caused them both to call out.

Meryda nodded her head fervently to Ignis’ request. She was wrapped in him, warm and safe against all, and that level of tenderness turned her on even further. Holding tight to the arm wrapped across her breasts, the pads of his fingers rubbing little circles over the sensitive mounds, the other descended to touch at her saturated curls, and then at last he was touching her against that tiny bundle of nerves that had been neglected thus far.

Meryda’s finish claimed her suddenly, causing her to lock in place as a low cry slid past her hold to call out her pleasure into the night. Ignis never stopped his movements, drawing out the sweet agony of her orgasm longer than she could stand and then she felt him attempt to withdraw. “No… It’s ok…”

“Meryda… I would never…” He would never disrespect her or put her in a predicament that could cause her stress. He had already been careless to let himself go this far without any hope of protection, but he would not finish it, even if he wanted to.

Meryda shook her head, suddenly desperate for this man to find his own end within her like she had found hers with him deep inside. She wanted to share it with him and give him all that he had been so generous to share with her. “It’s ok Ignis… You don’t have to worry. I cannot get pregnant.” 

The words caught the man off guard to the point that his orgasm caught up to him before he could react and withdraw from the exquisite tight warmth surrounding him. Pressing his head against Meryda’s shoulder, he tightened his hold on her and only when he was spent, did he seek to move. Not that he wanted to, but he would not let Meryda sleep uncomfortably with all that had just happened between them.

Ignis’ departure from the bed startled the shaking woman who felt self conscious for what she had shared in a moment of passion and then the silence that had followed it. When her companion returned to the bedside with a warm cloth to clean her, the tears came despite her best efforts to hold them in.

Ignis heard Meryda whimper but he did not stop in his self appointed task until he was satisfied with her physical comfort. Cleaning himself up, he replaced his underwear, that had gotten tossed from the bed at some point in time, and slid back into bed to hold the crying woman. “What has happened?” He knew that it wasn’t him or what they shared. It was what she had shared. Stroking her hair, he held her closer so that she could lean on his strength. When she didn’t answer, he tipped her plump features upward so that he could feel her gaze on his face. “Who told you you cannot get pregnant…”

That had not been what she had been anticipating Ignis to say or ask. Thrown off guard but such a blunt question, she wracked her brain but could not find a particular memory of the doctor’s telling her she couldn’t not have more children, just that it would be dangerous for her to. “They said that it would be dangerous should I carry another.”

Ignis’ fingertips smoothed the frown lines creasing her forehead and then he smiled as though he had every answer she would ever need. “Things change Meryda. You can heal, perhaps you have done so to the point it would not be dangerous. There are other means of healing as well…”

“YOu always have the answer, don't you?” USually it drove her crazy when he got on his high horse, but in this moment it made her feel better. 

“Well I certainly try.” He teased while continuing his soft touches across her face. IT felt incredible to not have the worries of the house that could come for them at any point in time, so that he could just lay, listening to the firelight while learning a new facet of Meryda. “I don’t want you to worry…”

“Don’t you want kids?” The moment the question came out of her mouth the woman regretted it. They were not at that point in their relationship! What was she asking questions like that for? 

But Ignis knew why. He knew that this relationship was going to see them through the darkness, and he had an itching notion that she did too. He was not fool enough to say it out loud, so he did not draw too much attention to her worry in the question and also in her demeanor. “I never contemplated having more than one child to carry on my family legacy, but I never had someone that I cared for enough to father a child.” Not like he did Meryda. If he found out she was pregnant tomorrow he would be as thrilled as he was terrified for having a child of his own. One that he had to shape and mold into a respectable human being, not that he wasn’t doing that with the orphans, it just felt different. What he would not be afraid of would be the woman bringing his child into the world. From a logical view point, she was an excellent provider, protector and nurturer. Meryda held her own in a fight and had numerous skills that had helped her raise the little girl with big blue eyes like her mothers. Or so he had heard from the others.

Either way, they weren’t there and he was not quite ready to entertain ideas that didn’t have their place in his life just yet. “I do know that when we get to that step in the future, and it cannot happen, then that is what is meant to be. Your daughter is a dream and we have a house full of children who need a family. That is enough for me.” And it was.

Meryda wanted to argue against what Ignis had just said but found that the points she wanted to bring up didn’t hold a candle to the honesty in his earlier words. “You really mean that.”

Ignis nodded. “I do. I would not have said it had I not.” Which was another pleasant, or unpleasant depending on how a person looked at it, part of Ignis’ personality. He knew that at times he came off as painfully honest and had hurt his fair share of individual’s for not tempering his reactions, however he would not lie. “Let’s not discuss this further for now. We are not there and when we get to that path, you already know my thoughts.”

She did know his thoughts, but she could not promise that she would not panic about this in the future. Having children had always been a dream of hers and while she adored her daughter, there was the desire to have more of her own. But the dark haired blond was right in that this was not the time to have such conversations. Meryda did like how he stated ‘when’ and not ‘if’ though. “So… girlfriend huh?”

“I do believe that is a satisfactory title as lover will give us far more problems with the children than girlfriend would.” Though, in his mind she was his lover. A girlfriend was a title for someone who was part of a person’s life in a variety of ways, and sex could be part of that. A lover, in Ignis’ mind, meant a deeper connection. Lovers shared more than just their bodies with each encounter, they shared pieces of their hearts and if one was lucky enough, parts of their souls. They were one being, an extension of the other, and when one was gone, the other could feel the absence like an earthquake rumbling over the earth. “To me… you are my lover.” He whispered against her ear, licking the lobe lazily as he laid his head back and pulled Meryda above him to lead their kiss.

Her hands reached up to cradle Ignis’ narrow cheeks and only when his lips tilted up at the sides to entice her closer did she come to him. Most men she had ever kissed, kept their jaws firm, their motions quick and then they moved on from the frivolities they felt kissing held. Ignis stayed with her, let her explore and then returned the gesture in full. No man had ever made her feel so wanted or desired with such a simple gesture. When she pulled away, a jolt of pure elation shot straight down to the center of her body causing her to squirm at the sensation. She wanted him, again, but knew that she didn’t have the stamina for it.

Ignis also knew her body would not withstand a second interlude, so he gently rolled Meryda to her back before lining up against her so that she was surrounded by him on one side. When the stubborn creature rolled and shifted her heavy limb over his hip, he pulled back from her questing lips and shook his head. “No Meryda, you must rest.” 

She knew that it was pertinent to sleep and regain her strength, but the promise of such solitude would not present itself for weeks or even months to come. It was in these quiet moments she was able to let herself fully give in to what her mind was determined to keep her from. “Ignis… it’ll be all right.”

No, it wouldn’t. And he would not be convinced otherwise, not when her body had begun to shake once more and her fingertips were all but frozen. What he could offer her would appease them both, because he was a gentleman, but he was still a man. He very much wanted her the way she wanted him. With firm touches, he traversed the length of her body, over the curved of her side to the dip just before her hips and then he let his fingers splay to cover the delightful expanse of her thick lower body and inward toward her parted thighs. She exuded warmth from the center of her long legs and if he were a weaker man he would have fallen to her with his mouth before sliding up her gorgeous body to join them. But he could not allow that much freedom for if he tasted her, his promises to keep her safe and healthy would turn to lies. “It will not… however I will give you something.” HIs breath whispered against her mouth before he all but ravaged her.

When Meryda was good and distracted, he slid his hand toward the part of her delicious body that wanted to feel him most and without preamble filled her with two long fingers as his thumb pressed squarely against the hidden pleasure center between her moist lower lips. A gasp broke apart their kiss, and the tangle of her arms around his body tightened as her back went taut. “Breathe with me… in…”

Meryda took a deep breath in through her nose, “Out…” Ignis instructed, though he gave her no reprieve from his position between her thighs. She was wet all over again despite how well he had cleaned her and by now he could smell the sweetness of her excitement. Sweet torture…

“In…” He breathed against her bared throat, “Out…” But this time when she attempted to force her breath out, it hitched and stuttered. Ignis grinned in triumph against her nape, “You’re close.” Her walls had begun to flutter against his fingers and the next breath in she took was sucked in sharply between her clenched teeth and it hit.

“That’s it my darling… Good…” He coo’d reverently to her, pleased that she had found her finish so quickly so that it would not put her body through any other unnecessary discomfort. 

“Ignis…” Her breathing was still ragged, but she managed to whisper his name even as he drew her against his chest where she would sleep the night away. “Thank you…” He hadn’t wanted to, she knew that, but he had allowed the closeness to please her and that meant a lot. He was a very giving man. 

“Sleep now my Darling. Morning will be here soon enough.” 

And with it, their journey and this most precious, private affair would come to an end.

Tomorrow the real world would call and with it, all of their responsibilities that sometimes made life hard to navigate.

But they had pushed down barriers in their time alone, and Ignis was bound and determined to keep them down.

Whispering an ancient prayer to the Gods for their protection of the woman in his arms, such words only used for loved ones or the royalty that ruled them, Ignis considered that this woman fell into both categories for him. 

*************

The family was silent in the wake of Ignis Scientia’s stern talking to and while the mother was willing to listen, the father of the sick boy still sleeping in the family room just beyond the kitchen, was not.

“This is our farm.” He hissed and then pointed toward the outside where Meryda sat inside the car, though she would not drive home. Ignis had been up early to contact Prompto and Gladiolus to come out the few hours drive so that Meryda would not have to exhaust herself further and drive home. Since they had waited out their morning in bed, Meryda sleeping and him ensuring her comfort, they ate when she woke up and then cleaned up the small abode given to them for the night.

When they arrived and shared pleasantries for the allotted time given to such rituals, Ignis directed Meryda to go wait for him in the car and broke down exactly what was going to happen in the future.

The boy would be moved to Lestallum or he would remain here and die. Meryda would not continue to hurt herself further when there were other methods to see to the boy.

“You’ve done this. Meryda has always helped us and now you’ve turned her against us.” The large man spat out in a rage, standing to advance on Ignis but his wife put herself in the way. 

“Sit down Walt…”

“I would advise that as well.” Ignis’ brow furrowed under the pressure of his anger, his hands moving to remove his visor so that he could clean it with the handkerchief in his pocket. Not that it mattered if the lens was clean, but old habits died hard. 

“Excuse me?” The man was outraged to be spoken to by the likes of someone like Ignis and when he moved for the man his wife knew to get out of the way this time around. The instant he put a hand on the dark blond soldier, Ignis righted the assumption that he would be manhandled.

He did not break or damage the man, but he did not offer him comfort. The first hit landed in the crease of the man’s arm and the second, directly to the gut, effectively knocking the wind out of his opponent. Violence hadn’t been necessary and he had not wanted to go there, but this man wasn’t going to stop so he neutralized the situation quickly and efficiently. Taking hold of the man’s collar he dragged him back to his chair and set him down. “Now then, if we are quite finished,” Turning to the man’s wife he bowed slightly, “I do offer my apologies for acting in such a manner in your home madam. It was unbecoming and terribly rude.”

“I umm… Thank you.” THe poor woman was almost surprised that someone had apologized for fighting in her home when she had never received that luxury before. Growing up on a farm and raising boys didn’t make way for gentility. 

Ignis nodded and returned his attention to the father. “Meryda has been kind to offer her aid to you and your family. She is worried about that boy and that is why she has come. However, she has a child of her own,”

“We never knew…”

“I’m sure not.” Ignis’ tone was clipped as his anger began to build. It was not for the mother wanting to save her boy who wouldn’t wish loss on anyone the way she would suffer it in the future. This anger was for the man willing to sacrifice others so that he could live in a past that could no longer survive this world. “But I know, and I will not allow her to put herself in jeopardy any further.”

“It’s her choice.”

“Walt.” His wife’s voice was condemning as she glared at him from her position. “Meryda has done everything to help us. Last night she passed out and even this morning she doesn’t look to be her best.” She had been dealing with her youngest son’s mortality for the past years of the darkness when his condition turned worse and her husband seemed unable to cope. No more.

Standing, she moved to the blind soldier and took his hand to show she was on his side. “Forgive us… we never would have wanted something to happen to Meryda.” It had frightened her that the woman pushed herself to that extreme.

Walter continued to to grumble from his position, not daring to get up after the soldier of Lucis had winded him without breaking a sweat. He fell silent when his wife moved out of the kitchen only to return with their boy in her arms. “What is this!” He gasped as the woman moved toward Ignis. 

“Would you hold him while I gather some things?” She asked quietly as her husband shifted to his feet behind her. This wasn’t the first time she had thought to up and leave to flee for Lestallum, it was however the first time that she felt like she could successfully make it away from the dead farm.

The father of the boy was positively livid when Ignis took hold of him but he did not follow his wife while she gathered the necessities for herself and her son. “You can’t take him.” Full of tears and rage, he thought to advance on Ignis once more, but stopped so that he wouldn’t disrupt his son’s rest.

“I don’t wish to. I would ask you to come with your family and build a new life away from here. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your son. He will need his father.” No he did not care for this man, but he knew he loved his son despite letting his pride get in the way.

“This farm has been in my family for generations.” To let all of that go felt like he was betraying all of those that came before him, but to stay would be to sacrifice that which would be the future of his name. 

Ignis didn’t have to comment on the matter as the man fell into trouble thoughts that he understood very well. To know the citadel had fallen, the crown city under the possession of Niflheim, it had nearly killed the four men fleeing to ensure their King’s wishes were carried out. “Should you stay… I promise you will regret it.” 

His eyes filled with tears but when he looked to the eight year old who was far too small for his age, clinging to the soldier in Kingsglaive wear, he knew that he would always regret not following his family more than abandoning his family’s farm. “I’ll go.” He whispered into the quiet room just as his wife stepped back into the kitchen. Turning at her shocked gasp, he went to the woman and sobbed into her welcoming embrace. 

Outside a second car pulled into the dark yard, this one larger than the small car Meryda and himself had used. Gladiolus had brought the truck, which would easily pack a small apartment’s worth of furniture and other belongings in the back. “I’m going to take your son out to the truck that has just arrived. Gladiolus will be driving you to Lestallum and once there you will go to the hotel under the supervision of Miss Jilly. She will help you settle in.” 

When Polly, the young boy’s mother whom he held, thanked him quietly, he left to give the couple proper time alone to say goodbye to a life that could no longer sustain them. Pushing this family out of their home didn’t make him feel good, or even happy as he knew what it was like to have your hopes dashed, but he would suffer the burden if it meant that Meryda would be in better health. 

“Hey Iggy… everything ok?” The big man was eyeing the upset couple through their window before he cast his dark gaze down at the frail boy in his friend’s arms. Ducking down into the front cab, he reached for a blanket off of the pile in the back and wrapped the pale child up only to take him into his own arms. “Meryda ok?”

“No.” His tone was short now that his worry and guilt for the woman’s disposition since the morning only seemed to worsen. It was undoubtedly why he had been so unforgiving when speaking with the Tryn’s. 

Gladiolus knew this look well. Lips so thin they were ready to disappear with an unnatural tension rushing through the man’s posture so that not only would someone see it, but they could feel it pouring off of him. Ignis was upset. And not the ‘Noctis didn’t eat his vegetables upset’. He was good and angry. With himself. “What happened.” Gladio shouldn’t have teased, but he couldn’t help it. Not much riled Ignis up.

“Nothing I wish to discuss at this time.” If Ignis got started about why he was frustrated he probably wouldn’t stop and Meryda’s secret was not yet privy to the other men so he did not want to betray her trust. The silver lining in all of this was that the two of them were officially a couple and had shared a wonderful evening together. Again, it was a slight silver lining considering she was not doing well this morning.

Gladiolus dropped the subject and settled the boy he held on the floorboards of the large truck. Before they had left, Prompto had fitted a pallet on the ground so that the young one wouldn’t be tossed about or have to bear the hours long car ride on the rigid bench seats. There was enough room for another person to sit and have their own foot room, the other person would sit up front with him. “I’ll get inside and start helping them bring things out. This weekend we can get a few trucks and men to come and pack up the rest.” If any houses were to open up they were lacking furnishings for a family so it made sense to gather what this family already had. 

The brunette stepped away from the car, leaving Ignis to watch after the boy while Prompto took care of Meryda would looked worse for the wear. Of course he had wanted to question Ignis at length about that, but he had the distinct notion that her well being was directly related to his mood. Once at the door he gave a knock of warning and when he felt enough time had passed, Gladio opened the door and stepped inside. This wasn’t the first family he had moved out of a family home and he knew it would not be the last.

Out at the car, Prompto kept a close eye on Ignis who was facing his direction, and an even closer eye on Meryda who was resting her head against the steering wheel and looking like she was going to shake apart. “Let me go get a blanket Meryda…” He had already given her one, but it hadn’t warmed her up any. 

“No.” Trying to keep her body under control, she turned her gaze to the worried blond kneeling on the ground inside the car door. “He’ll worry more.” There was no way she could drive, she could barely sit up, but Meryda was determined to get herself sorted out before they left. Not that she had the power to order her body to get better, but she was certainly going to try. It was always worse the day after.

“Meryda your lips are practically blue.” And it was scaring the young man more than he’d like to admit. It was almost as if she had fallen into a frozen lake and been pulled out long after the freeze had settled in her body. No, he did not like this one bit. “At least take my coat and gloves.” He always made sure to bring a sweater just in case of moments like these when someone needed his coat.

If her lips were blue then her skin had to be winter pale with a brittleness to her eyes that drew attention to how exhausted she both felt and looked. What she needed was to eat, and some medicine. “Did Maery or Miva send you with something for me?” Perhaps her sisters had thought of the possibility that she may need a little extra help to come out on the right side of all of this. Once the shakes set in they could last for days though they didn’t hurt her, nor could she really feel them because she was practically numb, but it upset the children because they didn’t understand what was happening with her. 

Prompto jumped up and jammed his hand down into his coat pocket. “Yes, they gave me two vials of some sort of liquid. Miva said for you to take one if you didn’t feel well, and two if you really didn’t feel well.” He fished out the round vials that were as wide as his middle finger and about double the size, filled with a brilliant violet liquid. “It’s really pretty.”

“Doesn’t taste pretty.” Meryda took hold of the first vial handed to her but her fingertips were so numb she couldn’t get a grip on the stopper. Chances were she wasn’t going to be able to get it up to her mouth either. “Prompto… could you help?” 

Blue eyes softened in sympathy toward Meryda’s plight, knowing that it was hard for this woman to ask for aid when she was the one who ran the ship at home. Uncorking the vial, he held it to her lips, her hand reaching to hold onto his wrist for stability, and then gently tipped it back until the liquid was all gone. 

Meryda’s features twisted in disgust as the thick syrup slid into her mouth, the taste getting stuck on her taste buds before it released and trailed down her throat. “Ok… the other.” She wheezed in a breath as her body shook in response to the awful tasting medicine.

Prompto helped her with the final vial which seemed to be more awful than the first and then quickly handed her his water bottle. “That’s supposed to make you better?”

“If I can keep it down.” Meryda grimaced, her stomach flipping wildly for a few seconds before it settled. The shaking in her body slowed, and when she touched her lips she could actually feel both the touch of her fingertips and the way her lips felt against the small pads. “Thanks Prompto.” She turned toward her friend who still looked rather determined. “Alright alright.” Sighing in defeat, she held out her hand and let the other man pull her out of the front seat of the car. Once she was steady on her feet thanks to Prompto letting her use him as a brace, he quickly shrugged out of his coat, pulled off her blanket, draped the heavy glaive material over her shoulders then rewrapped the blanket tightly around the poor woman.

“There now.” Pleased with his handy work, he gazed up in time to see Gladiolus finishing with the load into the back of the truck while the adults settled into the cab to wait. “Ignis looks pissed.” Prompto whispered to Meryda who turned to look.

Yeah he did. It was times like these she was glad he couldn’t see, but had the distinct feeling he knew what was happening anyway. His senses were a thing of fascination. “As soon as he’s here he’ll know.” Meryda’s bright gaze found Prompto’s which was just as weary as her own. “He’s too good.”

“I think he’s better than before he got blind.” The blond murmured as he watched his comrade make for the car that was going to be very tense over the course of the next four hours.

“That’s not surprising.” The two fell silent when Ignis rounded the car and stopped right in front of them. Yeah… he knew.

Pursing his lips even further, the blond cocked his head at the sound of startled breathing and raised his scarred brow. “Shall we then?” He wasn’t going to ask what was wrong because he already knew. Meryda was not fairing well and she didn’t want him to find out, however Prompto’s lack of joking and or noise once they were together signalled that the boy was concerned.

That and he could feel the anxiety surrounding them both, which was a classic tell. He had that ability to make people vastly uncomfortable and it served him well nowadays when he couldn’t read their facial features or body language. Opening the back car door, he helped Meryda settle onto the seat and then eased himself in beside her once she had scooted over. There was a pillow on the bench just beside her, knowing that Gladio would have packed enough blankets and pillows for everyone, he gave her a look just this side of condemning and only let up on his intensity when she picked it up and put it on his lap. His other brow, the one that had been mostly singed off, rose to meet the other and a few seconds later his stubborn girlfriend laid her head down regardless of if she had wanted to or not.

Even Prompto was silent, checking his rearview mirror only to jump in terrified shock that Ignis seemed to be staring right at him. Ugh! He hated when he did that!

The ride was indeed tense, for all members of both cars, and that did not end once they returned home. Upon arrival into Lestallum, Gladio took the family to Jilly’s right away and Prompto turned the other car toward the Orphanage. Meryda was swamped by her sister’s the moment the car was in park which left the men to see to the children.

It was a long evening for everyone considering the amount of tension Ignis projected into the air, so much so that when he disappeared into Meryda’s room to check on her, the other three adults sighed in relief.

“They finally together?” Miva asked Prompto, but Maery answered for the boy.

“Course they are. He wouldn’t waltz into her room otherwise.” Ignis’ entire demeanor had changed in how he handled Meryda now. He did not ask questions or requests, when he went to see her there were clear directives and outcomes he requested that Meryda didn’t argue with. For her sister to not argue meant that they were absolutely a couple. Finally.

“All I know… is he can stay in there and she can deal with him.” Prompto muttered so quietly the other women barely heard him. He had driven home feeling like he was being smothered by Ignis’ force of personality so he was happy to have a break.

The only one not getting a break was Meryda and despite her annoyance with the man who was bound and determined to see to her care,

She was also genuinely pleased to be worried over. When sleep finally came for her, Ignis was right there beside her.

*************

And that is how they finally get together. Now it's just seven more years of the darkness with it's ups and downs! Kudos and comments are always appreciated! Thanks for reading this little world I've created.


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